Quaint corners of ancient empires; southern India, Burma, and Manila

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

IN MEMORY OF

CARROLL ALCOTT

PRESENTED BY

CARROLL ALCOTT MEMORIAL
LIBRARY FUND COMMITTEE

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

Islands of the Southern Seas. Fully illustrated.
8°, $2.25.

" ' Islands of the Southern Seas ' is one of the few books of
modern travel that is worthy of being kept and read over and over
again. The illustrations throughout are excellent and as fittingly
clear and incisive as the author's style demands. A more readable
book on the nowadays somewhat hackneyed subject of travel in
the Southern Seas has never been printed, and we unhesitatingly
co 1.1 mend it." — London Chronicle.

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, NEW YORK AND LONDON

SANTA LUCIA GATE, MONASTERY OF AUQUSTINES, MANILA.

{Frontispiece.)

QUAINT CORNERS

OF

ANCIENT EMPIRES

SOUTHERN INDIA, BURMA

AND

MANILA

BY

MICHAEL MEYERS SHOEMAKER

Author of " Islands of the Southern Seas," and " Palaces
and Prisons of Mary Queen of Scots"

Illustrated

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

NEW YORK AND LONDON

Cbe fuiicfcerbocfeer press
1899

COPYRIGHT, 1899

BY
MICHAEL MEYERS SHOEMAKER

Entered at Stationers' Hall, London

ttbe Iknicfccrbocfcei- preee, Hew tforfc

TO MY NEPHEW

LIEUTENANT ISRAEL PUTNAM

UNITED STATES ARMY

WHO RECEIVED HIS BAPTISM OF FIRE

AT SAN JUAN DEL MONTE, MANILA

ON HIS TWENTY-FIRST BIRTHDAY

PREFACE

making many books there is no end " may
already be said concerning this Spanish-
American war, but, so far, no apology is needed for
presenting to our public any work upon the Philip-
pines. If an increase of the army is demanded for
these islands it will not be long before every State
in the Union will have men there in whom they are
directly interested, and the theatre in which those
soldiers must play their parts, and perhaps end their
lives, cannot but be of interest to those left behind
them, especially to their wives, mothers, and sisters.
Therefore I venture to think that the following ac-
count of the city of Manila with its surroundings
will prove acceptable. If it helps " the women who
wait," and who in so doing fight the hardest of all
battles, to tide over any of the weary hours, it will
have more than accomplished its purpose.

I have told the story of the friars in the Philip-
pines as I learned it from the highest English and
American authorities in Manila, — all men who have
lived there for years, — as I have read it in that
standard work of Foreman's, The Philippine Islands,
and also as the official records give it. It has not
been pleasant writing, and it may be claimed that

vi Preface

no good can come from its publication. Granted,
so long as the archipelago belonged to another
nation ; but the United States are now responsible
for what goes on in those islands, and certainly if
the actions of these friars are condoned, if silence is
allowed to drop its mantle upon them, they will
take heart and continue in their old lines — they have
never known any other — with the conclusion on the
part of the people that the Americans are no better
or wiser than the Spaniards, and that one bad master
has been exchanged for another. Instead thereof,
they must be convinced that our courts and laws are
for the protection of both friars and people, and that
justice and just punishment will be meted out to
both. I do not consider that these friars have any-
thing in common with the enlightened Catholics of
Europe and America. They are of the Dark Ages,
and the account of their actions will thoroughly as-
tonish the members of that great Church in other
lands — actions so terrible that they have completely
wiped from the memory of the natives all recollec-
tions of any good they (the friars) may have accom-
plished, driving the people into taking vengeance
even upon the churches and the graves of the dead.
These friars are the power with which we shall have
the greatest struggle, because they have the most to
lose through an enlightened form of government,
and this struggle will be all the more deadly because
they will work in secret, attack in the dark. Have
we a Dictator Diaz to send out there ? Surely,
when the American people, both Catholic and Pro-
testant, especially the former, thoroughly under-
stand the matter, they will arise and, taking arms

Preface vii

against this sea of troubles, end them, both in the
Philippines and in Porto Rico, from whence, I am
told, like reports have come. Then the daily press
will no longer be " afraid to publish," as the editor
of a great American journal told me is now the case,
facts about any occurrences in the lands over which
waves our national banner.

But before reading the chapters on Manila we will
journey through Southern India, from Ceylon to the
grandest and least known of all Hindoo temples —

Rameswaram " on Adam's Bridge. Thence to
fantastic Madura and stately Tanjore. Then pass-
ing via Madras and the Bay of Bengal we will land
at Rangoon under that dazzling shrine of the Bud-
dhists, the Great Pagoda. We will sail up the Ifra-
waddy for a thousand miles, almost reaching China;
and, returning, we will pause in Mandalay, and,
taking quarters in the palace of the Queen, inspect
that romantic city with its dragon thrones, its
golden palaces, monasteries, and countless pagodas,
while we listen to its many legends of splendour
founded upon wholesale slaughter. Passing with
the gay throngs once more to the river, we will drift
on to where the ancient city of Pagahn has stood
silent and deserted for seven hundred years — Pagahn
with its ten thousand shrines. What is Rome to
this ? Onward down the river we will pass to Prome,
and from thence journey to Rangoon, where we will
take ship for Manila.

M. M. S.

April, 1899.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
RAMESWARAM

PAGE

The Great Temple of Rameswaram — Its Isolated Position and
the Way thither — Its Vast Corridors, Holy Tanks, Pro-
cessions, Jewels, and Legends — Life on the Island of
Paumben — Return to Colombo — Indian Magicians — Mili-
tary Church Service . I

CHAPTER II
THE PLAGUE

The Plague — The Means whereby it Spreads — Immunity of
Europeans — When the Rats Begin to Die — The Belief of
the Natives as to its Origin — Opinion of the Bombay
Doctors — The Towers of Silence during the Pest — The
Gathering of the Vultures even from Turkestan . . 14

CHAPTER III
MADURA

The Panorama of the Peoples of India — The Approach to
Madura — The Feast to Shiva — The Gopuras — Courts,
Sanctuaries — " Tank of the Golden Lilies" and the Starv-
ing Queen — The Sacred Elephants, Bulls, and Parrots —
The Dirt of the Temple — Responsibility of the Sacred
Tanks for the Cholera — Legends and Treasures of
Madura 23

x Contents

CHAPTER IV

TANJORE

PAGE

The Palace of the Rajah — Its Pageants, Elephants, Musicians
— The Splendours of a Durbar — The Palace Library and
Hall of Audience — The Desolation of the Whole — The
Pagoda of Tanjore — Its Stately Appearance and Superb
Carvings in Stone — Its Stone Bull and Holy of Holies
— The Minor Pagodas — The Passing of the Life and
Wealth of Tajvjore 30

CHAPTER V
MADRAS

" The Forsaken of God"— The Indian and English City— The
Vile Hotel, Bats, and Toads— The Cobra— Habits of the
Serpents — Harbour of Madras — Teeming Life on its
Beach — The People and Crows — Plague Inspection — Ap-
proach of the Pest — The Hand of England in India . . 36

CHAPTER VI
BAY OF BENGAL

Passage of the Bay — Dangers of an Insufficient Provision for
an Accident — Native Crowds under Deck — Life of a Sa-
loon Passenger on these Ships — Edison and Omdurman —
English Opinion of that $20,000,000 Paid for Manila —
Cholera on Board — Prospect of Quarantine — Landing at
Rangoon 41

CHAPTER VII
BURMA

First View of the Great Pagoda — Sarkie's Abominable Hotel
and the Fight therein — Clubs and Parks of Rangoon —
English Section — Value of Burma — Season for Travel —
Departure for Karthay — Cool Air of the Irrawaddy — Sail
to Bhamo, and Approach to China — Teak Forests — The
Elephant at Work — Sagacity and Strength — Cost of a
Healthy Beast — Bhamo — Its Trade with China — Ancient
Joss-House , . . . . , , . . . . 46

Contents xi

CHAPTER VIII
IRRAWADDY AND MANDALAY

PAGE

Down the Irrawaddy — The Steamboats — Scenery en Route —
The Mingun Pagoda — Approach to Mandalay — Appear-
ance of the Outer Town — Cleanly Appearance of the
People — The "Fort" — Burials Alive under its Walls —
The "Jars of Oil " and their Portent — The Golden Palace
— Pavilion of Audience and Dragon Throne — King Thee-
baw — Upper Burman Club — Palace of the Queen — The
Lily Throne Room and the Murders which Occurred
there — Life at the Club — Military Smoking Concert in
the Open — Mandalay Hill — Temple of the " Seven Hun-
dred Pagodas" — Sacred White Elephants— State of the
King — Ploughing of the Fields— Fears of Usurpation —
Burial of the King ........ 60

CHAPTER IX

MONASTERIES

Foundation of the Monasteries — Queen's Golden Monastery in
Mandalay — Carvings and Gildings — Sleepers and the
"Butterfly Spirit" — The Enthroned Buddha and his
Sanctuary — The Tower of Contemplation — Duties of a
Monk — His Begging Outfit — Picturesque Costume — Clos-
ing Services before the Shrine — The Ending of the Day
— Ritual of Ordination — Strange Medicines — The Four
Cardinal Sins — Punishment for Violation thereof is Like
that of the Leper of Old — No Supreme Being — Christi-
anity and Buddhism Compared 73

CHAPTER X
BURMESE CUSTOMS

Farewell to Mandalay — Brilliant Scene on the River Banks
— The Women of Burma — Their Dress and Appearance
— Childbirth and the Useless Suffering Enforced by
"Custom" — Cargo Steamers and the Gay Life thereon —
Marvellous Tattooing — Its Significance — Superstition and
Magic — Horrible Customs and Weird Incantations . . 83

xii Contents

CHAPTER XI

ANCIENT PAGAHN

PAGE

Pagodas Crowd the Banks of the Irrawaddy — Meaning of the
Word "Pagoda" — The " Kyaik-htee-yoh " — Its Fantastic
Position and Legends — Pagahn — A City Dead Seven
Hundred Years — Its Foundations — Destruction — Count-
less Pagodas — Present State — The Anada Pagoda — The
Majestic Appearance of the Buddha — The Solemn Ex-
pression of its Face and the Meaning thereof — "A Face
from out Nirvana, where no Fear is " — Size of the Anada
— Its Four Sanctuaries — Pagoda Slaves, their Service and
Outcast Position — Tradition of their Origin — Treachery
of Pagahn's King — Petty State of the Slaves — The Vision
of Vanishing Pagahn — The Silence of the River . . 91

CHAPTER XII
RANGOON

The ' ' Shway Dagohn Payah " — First Appearance from the Sea
— Its Fascination for the Traveller — Its Age and Un-
altered State — Regilding and the Cost — The Sacred Stairs
and the Dwellers thereon — The Marvellous Appearance
of the Great Platform — Majestic Appearance of the Great
Pagoda — Its Jewelled Umbrella and Golden Bells — Lilies
and Lotus — The Legend of the Scarlet Canna — Last Ap-
pearance of the Sacred Stairs and Grinning Leogryphs . 101

CHAPTER XIII

EN ROUTE TO MANILA

Departure from Rangoon — News of the German Emperor —
French, Germans, and English in the East — Feelings of an
American on their Ships — Actions of the Germans there —
Their Relations to America and their Sympathy for Spain
— German Designs on Manila — General Lack of a Proper
Understanding as to the Cause of our " Little War" —
Spain's Refusal to Clean Havana — Position of our Gov-
ernment as Regards the Maine — The Cubans and Mexicans

Contents xiii

— Effect of our "Little War" — Union of our People —
Position of England — Intelligent Understanding of our
"Jingoes" — Our Histories — Our Congressmen — Wars of
a Century ago Relegated to their Niche in History —
Salute of our Flag at Manila by the English . . . 108

CHAPTER XIV
MANILA

The Stormy China Sea — Communication with the Islands —
First Appearance of the City — Landing — Hotels — A De-
votee at the Shrine of Mariana Forced to Deal with a
Nation of "To-day" — The Result — The American Ac-
cent and Language in the Far East — First Walks through
the City— The Rush in the Streets— The Strange Vehicles—
" The English Hotel " — " Carmen's Inn " — Shadowy Bal-
conies— Richly Carved Beds — Rickety Furniture — The
Ills that the Flesh is Heir to — Electric Lights — Murat
Halstead and the Food in Manila . . . . 116

CHAPTER XV
DAILY LIFE IN " BINONDO "

Streets of Manila — English Club — Noises and Diseases — A
Drive into the Insurgents' Territory — Aguinaldo's and
General Otis's Proclamations — Reports from Iloilo — Re-
fusal of Press there to Print the President's Proclamation
— Spanish Officers and Soldiers — The Former together
with the Friars to Blame for Much of the Present Trouble
— An Invitation to a Ball on the " to-be-Captured "
Olympia — Rumours of an Attack — Closing of the Shops
in the City — A General Call to Arms — Wild Scene in the
Escolta — The Water-Supply and its Exposed Condition —
Sam Paloc and its Desecrated Graves — Attack on one of
our Sentries, and Death of the Tagalos — The I4th Regu-
lars— " Retreat" — The "Angelus" and the Star-Spangled
Banner . . . . . « / • . . . 124

xiv Contents

CHAPTER XVI
OLD MANILA

PACK

Old Manila — Effect of the Earthquakes — Gloom of the Ancient
City — Ruins of Churches and Convents — The Official
Palace — Statue of Magellan — Portraits of Old Spaniards —
Portrait of the Queen and King — View from the Palace
Windows — The Cathedral — Desecration of the Edifice by
the Prisoners — Monkeys on the High Altar — Jewels on the
Shrines 133

CHAPTER XVII
RAMBLES IN OLD MANILA

Attack of the Chinese in 1574 — Ambition of the Clergy — Dis-
honesty of Churchmen and Statesmen — Trials of the Gov-
ernors for Stealing — Governor-General and his Reputation
— His Wife and the Jewels — The Apportionment of the
Land by the Patriot Leaders to Themselves — Ignorance
of the People on the Subject — The Jesuits and their
Monastery — Age of Manila's Churches — The Fortress of
Old Manila — The " Black Hole" and its Victims — Arma-
ment of the Fort — Officers' Club in the Fortress — Pretty
Maidens — Ugly and Slovenly Older Women — The Paseo
and Luneta — Gorgeous Sunsets — Wonderful Display of
the Fireflies 140

CHAPTER XVIII
THE FRIARS

The Garrote — The Observatory — The Spanish Bridge — Pass-
age of the Archbishops and Governors-General — The
Circuit of the Old City — The Archiepiscopal Residence —
That of the Augustines — The Number of these Institutions
— Friars of the Fifteenth Century Have Nothing in Com-
mon with Enlightened Catholics — The Procurators in
Madrid — The Fate of an Enlightened Brother — Power of
the Friars over the People — Dishonour — Prison Record
of Dorothea Arteaga — Attempt to Serve a Warrant on a
Friar — Vowed to Celibacy, but Chastity is Unknown—

Contents xv

PAGE

Boasts of a Friar — Refusal to Bury the Dead — Destruction
of the Churches by Infuriated Natives — Names of the
Orders — Their Enormous Wealth — The Convent of Santa
Clara — A Decoy House — Events of 1888 — The Secret Pass-
age— Condition To-day — Attempted Entrance — Chaplain
Pierce of the I4th Regulars and his Conflict over the
Schoolhouse — Aguinaldo's Refusal and the Archbishop's
Commands — Opposition of the Friars to Enlightenment
— Reports from Porto Rico — Obligations of our Govern-
ment— Confiscation of Paco Cemetery — The Golgotha —
Purchase of a Cemetery for the Poor — Graves of our
Dead in Paco Campo Santo — A Soldier's Funeral . . 149

CHAPTER XIX
THE "BROTHERHOOD OF BLOOD"

Quarters of the I4th Regulars — Dinner at the Mess — Rations
of our Army in Manila — The Hospitals and their Corps —
Condition of the Men in Manila — Excitement in the City
—"Brotherhood of Human Bloodhounds" — The Kati-
punan Society — Its Origin — Power — Operations against
the Spaniards — The First Plot — The Press in Manila —
Punishment of a Tagalo by a Soldier .... 165

CHAPTER XX
TRIBES OF THE ISLANDS PHILIPPINE LEADERS

Origin of the Filipinos — The Negritos — The Gaddanes — The
Head-Hunters — The Fire Tree — Our Men in this Climate
— Spain and the Hill Tribes — The Tagalos — Their Love
of Dress — Native Costume — Aguinaldo and his Associates
— Their Robbery of the People — Their Condition and
Desires — Their Characters — Chinese " Houses of Pleas-
ure " — The Dishonesty of the People — The Impossibility
of a Protectorate over these People — Position of the
United States— Our Knowledge of the Outer World . 174

CHAPTER XXI
TRADE IN THE PHILIPPINES

Siege by the British — Return to Savage Instincts — Unable to
Govern Themselves — Spain's Dealing with the People —

xvi Contents

PACK

Smuggling in Money — The Mexican Dollar — English
Opinion of the Islands — Mountains and Rivers — Effect of
Railways — Dissatisfaction over our Tariff — English Clubs
-English Advice and Opinion of the Tagalos . . . 182

CHAPTER XXII
CAVITE

Impossible to Travel through the Islands — Courtesy of Admiral
Dewey — His Appearance and Character — Manila Bay —
Our Fleet — The Spanish Ships — Cavite — Fortress and
Arsenal — Its Appearance — Desecrated Churches — Ruined
Alameda — Forts of the Town — End of the Spanish Em-
pire— The Pageant of Centuries — Spain's Present Con-
dition and Opportunities — Departure on the Zafiro —
Island of Corregidor — The Southern Cross — Spanish
Prizes — Hong Kong — Affected by the War — China the
Coming Country — Old Shanghai and its Horrors . .189

CHAPTER XXIII
LOOKING BACKWARD

Present State of Japan — Effect of the Chinese War — Fear of
the Foreign Residents — Eastern Races versus the Ameri-
can Negro — Scene in Florida — Japanese Application of
Western Civilisation — Their Steamships — The Chinese
Prisoners — Fair Play Unknown — Filipinos Compared to
Japanese 202

ILLUSTRATIONS

SANTA LUCIA GATE AND MONASTERY OF AUG-
USTINES, MANILA . . . Frontispiece

INDIA

APPROACH TO RAMESWARAM .... 2

RAMESWARAM 8

NATIVE CART, MADURA 22

ENTRANCE AND GREAT GOPURA, MADURA . 24

STONE CARVINGS, MADURA 26

TANK OF THE " GOLDEN LILIES," MADURA . 28

STATE PROCESSION OF ELEPHANTS, TANJORE . 30

DURBAR SALON, TANJORE ..... 32

GREAT PAGODA, TANJORE 34

STONE BULL, TANJORE 36

BURMA

UPPER IRRAWADDY 52

ELEPHANTS AT WORK 54

WALLS OF "THE FORT," MANDALAY -. . 64
DRAGON THRONE OF KING THEEBAW, MANDA-
LAY ..... v .. 66
GOLDEN PALACE OF KING THEEBAW, MANDA-
LAY 68

THE " 750 PAGODAS," MANDALAY . . ... 70

xviii Illustrations

PAGE

THE " 750 PAGODAS," MANDALAY . . .72
QUEEN'S GOLDEN MONASTERY, MANDALAY . 74
ENSHRINED BUDDHA, QUEEN'S GOLDEN MONAS-
TERY . 76

BUDDHIST PRIEST, MANDALAY .... 80

BURMESE WOMAN, MANDALAY .... 84

TATTOOED BOY MANDALAY .... 88

" KYAIK-HTEE-YOH PAGODA " . . .92

" MIEN " OR PAGAHN AS MARCO POLO SAW IT 94

" MIEN " OR PAGAHN SHOWING ANADA PAGODA 96

GREAT BUDDHA OF ANADA PAGODA, PAGAHN . 98

ENTRANCE TO THE " SHWAY DAGOHN," RANGOON 102

THE " SHWAY DAGOHN " ... . 104

COURT OF THE DYING BUDDHA, " SHWAY DA-
GOHN "...... . 106

ENSHRINED GAUTAMAS, " SHWAY DAGOHN " . 108
WOOD CARVING, "SHWAY DAGOHN" . . .no

MANILA

A CARROMATO, MANILA . . » . 120

THE " ESCOLTA," MANILA . . . . . . 122

SANTALON ROAD WITH WATER WORKS MAIN,

MANILA 130

GRAND STAIRCASE, OFFICIAL PALACE, MANILA 136
CATHEDRAL AND EARTHQUAKE RUINS, MANILA 138
SAN JUAN DEL MONTE, OLDEST CHURCH IN MAN-
ILA 142

WALLED CITY AND BISHOP'S PALACE FROM THE

LUNETA, MANILA . . . . . . 146

THE GARROTE, MANILA ..... 150

MONASTERY OF THE AUGUSTINES, MANILA . 152

NATIVE STREET, MANILA . . . . . 168

PETTY KING OF TINGANOS, LUZON . . .174
TAGAL WOMAN, MANILA . . . . .176

Illustrations

XIX

PAGE

AGUINALDO AND ASSOCIATES . . . .178
POLITICAL EXECUTION ON THE LUNETA, MANILA 184
CAVITE — BAY AND ARSENAL — SHOWING SPANISH

WRECKS 194

QUAINT CORNERS
OF ANCIENT EMPIRES

CHAPTER I

RAM ESW ARAM

The Great Temple of Rameswaram — Its Isolated Position and the
Way thither — Its Vast Corridors, Holy Tanks, Processions,
Jewels, and Legends — Life on the Island of Paumben — Return
to Colombo — Indian Magicians — Military Church Service.

RAMESWARAM, the most venerated, the most
magnificent, and the largest of Hindoo tem-
ples, is situated on a lonely, sandy island close
under the shores of Southern India, an island which,
with its neighbours and the connecting reefs, forms
what is called Adam's Bridge, uniting Ceylon" with
the continent of Asia. In the narrow passages open
to the sea, the waters make constant complaint
against their tumultuous existence. During the
south-west monsoon the waves of the Indian Ocean
are driven northward past Cape Comorin and on
into the Gulf of Kandy (also called " Manar "), to

2 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

be forced finally with tremendous roaring through
these straits. When the monsoon from the north-
east comes on, the waters of the Bay of Bengal are
sent with equal power southward, so that here there
is never any rest.

Holy Rameswaram, therefore, is not easy of access.
The traveller to-day must take ship from Colombo
or Nagapatam to Paumben, the seaport of this
island. He will be landed from a native dhow on
a rough coast. Those who carry him ashore will
probably drop him just where the waves will reach
to his knees. Paumben is a desolate collection of
native huts, with the bungalows of two Englishmen
who are stationed here as agents in the coolie trade
to Ceylon. There is no Rest-house or Dak Bunga-
low, and unless the Englishmen take pity on you,
you must sleep in the open air, inspected at frequent
intervals by the many native dogs. I was so fort-
unate as to secure the good-will of Mr. Wilkinson,
who turned over his bungalow to me, and placed at
my disposal his gharry and bullocks. Climbing into
the little black vehicle, I sat perforce with a foot out
of each window, and was bowled along at a smart
trot by the bullocks, after their driver had induced
them to pass their stable.

Rameswaram is some eight miles distant across
the island, and a comparatively good road has been
constructed thereto by the Madras Government.
The way is, as it were, an Indian Appian Way.
There are many temples and shrines, many tanks
and basins, wherein the people bathe and pray,
while countless pilgrims pass onwards towards this
Mecca of their faith. All the vivid colouring of

Rameswaram 3

the East, toned to an artistic softness, glows in the
garments of the multitude. Moss green, dull red,
and gold are the favoured hues; the material is
coarse and cheap, but arranged with a grace never
found in our world of fashion. Yonder dark-eyed
maiden stands robed in scarlet ; on each toe glitter
two or three silver rings; her arms are laden with
bangles almost to the elbows, and her ears bear long
gold rings, while her left nostril has been pierced
and a tiny gold flower shines against the dark skin.
Yonder boy, clothed in a string around his loins,
has eight rings piercing the rims of each of his ears.
In the background rise the grotesque columns of a
Hindoo shrine; its black, stone bull is covered with
yellow flowers, while the roof of its pagoda holds
countless images of Brahma in all his many shapes
and attributes.

Here is a temple in the midst of a square basin
full of slime. Down the steps which enclose it
crowd the people, stooping ever and anon to ques-
tion the many priests, and then bathing in and
drinking the sacred water.

At last, at the end of the long avenue, rises the
great gopura of the temple of Rameswaram, each
receding story of which is encrusted with countless
statues of Hindoo deities, which gaze down in
indignant amazement at the solitary traveller in
strange clothes, who comes in simple curiosity, and
not as a pilgrim laden with gifts to the gods.

Passing through the portal which is formed by
three monoliths, those at the sides being each nine-
teen feet in height, the traveller stands in silent
wonder at the scene before him. A shadowy corri-

4 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

dor stretches away until in the far perspective it
ends in the sanctuary where a golden bull is all
ablaze in the light of the noonday sun. The walls
rise some thirty feet above one and are richly painted
in Hindoo designs; each column is formed by the
grotesque and colossal statue of some god or animal
sacred to that creed, and is carved from a single
stone. Here is the triple-faced god Brahma, yonder
a grotesque ape, followed by a line of old mahara-
jas. There is Shiva alone, and yonder the monkey-
faced god Hanuman.

This great passage is but an entrance-hall, the
first transverse corridor being some seven hundred
feet long, but everywhere are to be seen the same
flat roof, the same endless rows of grotesque columns,
the same gorgeous yet subdued colouring. Through
the openings on either side are, on the one hand, a
sacred tank, on the other, several small sanctuaries.

Passing down this corridor, the traveller will en-
ter one or the other of the great lateral halls of the
temple, and here the true magnificence of Rames-
waram is discovered. For this corridor, though of
the same design and ornament as those already
mentioned, is one thousand feet long. Its perspect-
ive is something marvellous. The glance of the
beholder passes on and on until wearied with the
journey to the farther end, which is almost lost in
the shadowy distance. This corridor is three hun-
dred feet longer than the Cathedral of St. Peter's.
In fact, all the shrines of the world shrink into in-
significance as one stands gazing down the vast
spaces of Rameswaram.

For a more perfect comprehension, Rameswaram

Rameswaram 5

may be described as a parallelogram ; its side corri-
dors are each one thousand feet long, the front and
rear being each seven hundred and fifty, while the
entrance corridors, piercing those of the front and
rear in the centre and at right angles, are at least
four hundred feet in length, and terminate in two
sanctuaries. All of these corridors are of the same
style and description, all of the same grotesque
splendour.

Strangers are not allowed to approach the sanctu-
aries, but it is easily seen that they contain simply
a stone or brazen bull, or a statue of some god, and
that they are all very dirty. These vast temples
contain no great central hall or chamber, merely
these small shrines with the numerous corridors and
open-air courts. Such a design is better adapted to
the processions so dear to the heart of the Hindoo.

Seated in a shadowy nook I await the coming of
the custodian of the treasury, having sent for him
by one of the many attendants who continually flit
hither and thither throughout all this vastness.
Finally he comes — a fat, comfortable-looking Brah-
min, arrayed in diaphanous white, with a white
turban, his brown skin shining with its polishing of
cocoanut oil. With almost courtly manners and in
most excellent English he welcomes me and offers
me a chair on the other side of a long table.

' You would see the jewels of the temple ? They
are under the charge of several keepers. I am but
one of them. I cannot show you all. I will show
you many. The treasures of Rameswaram have
been estimated at fifteen lacs of rupees" (^"6000
to the lac).

6 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

His attendants have in the meantime brought
forth several ancient caskets, and the table is soon
covered with bracelets, armlets, anklets, pendants,
and crowns, all encrusted with stones of every known
description, and evidently of great value, but like
all Oriental work, the jewels are not well cut and do
not show to advantage. They are used to decorate
the gods, and also their attendants, when a proces-
sion is taking place. Rameswaram possesses an in-
come of some $30,000 a year, and this Brahmin says
that it is used up every year in paying for the pro-
cessions, in feeding the poor, and paying the wages
of the many hundreds of men in constant attendance
upon the temple.

Everyone in the Hindoo world makes a pilgrim-
age, once at least, to this sacred spot, and the
money left by the pilgrims counts up to many thou-
sands and hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is
said that the people living in the town are all
wealthy, though there is certainly no evidence of it
in clothing or dwellings.

My Brahmin, becoming garrulous as the shadows
lengthen, wanders on into the legends of his temple :

" Vishnu became incarnate for the seventh time
as the son of Dasaratha, the King of Ayoehya, for
the purpose of destroying the giant demon Ravana,
who was King of Lanka or Ceylon. Wandering in
the forest of Dandaka — so says the Southern Indian
tradition — Rama lost his wife Sita, who was carried
off to Lanka by Ravana. Rama pursued the rav-
isher, attended by the devotees, who assumed the
shape of monkeys. Their general, Hanuman, made
a bridge of rocks from India to Ceylon at Ramesh-

Rameswaram 7

waram, by which Rama crossed, slew RaVana, and
recovered his bride. But when he returned he was
observed to have two shadows, a sign of sin of the
deepest dye. This was because Ravana was of
the race of Brahma, and Rama took council with the
divine sages to discover some means of expiating
his crime. They advised him to build a temple and
confine Shiva there in a lingam or phallus, which is
the emblem of that deity. Rama built the temple,
and sent Hanuman to Kailasa, the heaven of Shiva,
to get a lingam. As he was a long time in return-
ing, and the hour for dedicating the temple was ap-
proaching, Rama induced his wife Sita to model a
phallus of the white sand of the seacoast. This
she did, and Rama set up the phallus thus moulded
in the temple, which was forthwith dedicated to
Shiva. Meantime, Hanumdn returned with another
phallus and was so angry at being forestalled that he
endeavoured to pull up the other lingam, and broke
his tail in the effort to twist it out. Hereupon
Shiva and his consort appeared from the lingam,
and said to Rama, ' Whoever visits this lingam
dedicated by thee, and bathes in the twenty-four
sacred bathing-places, shall be free from sin and in-
herit heaven.' Then, to console Hanuman, Rama
placed the lingam he had brought on the north side
of the one which had been already set up, and
ordained that pilgrims should visit it first and then
Rama's lingam."

The narrator ceases as the shadows of the night
are falling; the jewels gleam for an instant as they
are taken away, and I depart after being decorated
by the Brahmin with a garland of white flowers.

8 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

As we turn down the long southern corridor, its far
end is illuminated by an approaching procession,
and we stand aside to witness its passage.. There
are hundreds of white- and yellow-robed figures in
the line; their faces are fantastically painted, while
their eyes have a rapt, far-off expression. There
are two triumphal cars, covered with lights and
garlanded with flowers, the first bearing a brazen
bull, the second a statue of Shiva. The jewels on
both flash and glitter in the flare of countless torches.

It is said that human sacrifice sometimes occurs in
Rameswaram, and one wonders whether it may not
be going to occur now. This is idolatry pure and
simple, and all things are possible to the devotees
at these shrines. Be that as it may, we have no
desire to follow the procession as it vanishes in the
distance, but, on the contrary, a very distinct desire
to get out into God's sunshine where these grotesque
gods cannot mock and jeer at us as they seem to be
doing now.

The trip to Rameswaram is not an easy one,
especially at this time when there is great excite-
ment about the plague, which is steadily creeping
over the southern end of the peninsula. I have
some difficulty in getting on board the ship to Co-
lombo, even though I hold permission from the
health authorities of that place to return there. It
would have been an unpleasant and even serious
matter to have been forced to disembark and remain
on the island, but the ship finally moves on and the
trouble is ended.

Sunshine and shadow chase each other closely
through this life of ours. All nature smiles here to-

Rameswaram 9

day, yet across the brilliance of the sunlight passes
a sad-faced woman with six children, the oldest not
yet ten years of age. She is going home to Eng-
land, having lost her husband in Madras. His pen-
sion ended with his life, and the poor woman has
nothing but a return ticket for herself and family.
What a sad face, and how justly so! The children,
however, seem well cared for and are most consider-
ate of the mother.

We have as passengers a Catholic bishop and four
priests from Jafna, an important missionary post for
all sects at the extreme northern end of Ceylon.
The Catholic mission is the most prosperous, and I
am told that this arises from two causes : first, be-
cause the ceremonials of that Church appeal more
strongly to the Hindoo than do the simple services
of the other denominations; and, second, because
the Catholic priest comes out here for life. All his
past and his people at home are buried from him
forever. He enters among these people and lives
their lives, adopting their modes in all ways. Hence
he becomes one of them, and gets nearer to their
inner lives than the missionaries of the other sects
who carry home customs and manners with them,
who live separate and apart from the people, who
send their families to the hills and often go them-
selves on the first approach of hot weather. The
world has rarely, if ever, heard of a Catholic priest
deserting his post for any cause. I do not mean to
state that our missionaries do so, but they certainly
do not gain the hearts of these people as do the
Romanists, and those who live here, and whose op-
portunities of judging are of course excellent, give

io Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

the reasons as I have stated them. My information
came from a member of the Church of England, an
official who had lived in Ceylon for eighteen years,
and whose work carried him to all sections of the
island.

The gay harbour of Colombo is reached at last,
and we pass ashore amidst the motley concourse
which forever crowds these Eastern ports, pass up-
ward into the cool shade of the Oriental Hotel and
out upon its wide veranda, where one may find
amusement at all times. Here are the merchants
with precious stones, here are sellers of gold, and
silverware, rare embroideries, and sandalwood — but
watch those fakirs a while.

The statement has been made by such prestidig-
itateurs as Hermann and Heller that they have
never seen any tricks by these men of India which
they could not explain. Be that as it may, these
common street magicians do some very clever things.
Certainly the performance before the Grand Hotel
Colombo this morning, under the blazing sunlight
and not three feet from the looker-on, was remark-
able. As to the mango-tree trick there appeared a
strong resemblance between the tree grown yester-
day and the one produced this morning. But it was
in the other performances that the observers were
most interested. In one instance, the fakir took a
small jar of metal and handed it around to show
that it was empty. Then placing a copper coin be-
tween his teeth he began to blow, and smoke soon
issued from his mouth and nostrils; the jar, which
was held aloft all the time, was found filled with
water, which commenced to boil furiously. Casting

Rameswaram 1 1

it aside, he opened his mouth and ejected jets of
living flame. Indeed the whole cavity of the throat
appeared to be filled with fire which ignited anything
with which it came in contact. We all saw the
empty jar, the filled jar, the boiling water, and the
fire, but the fire never approached the jar.

Another trick consisted in causing a dead and
dried-up cobra to come to life — or so it appeared.
The snake is usually kept in a small round flat
basket with a closely fitting cover. This we saw
was empty, and into it the fakir laid the flat dried
skin of a dead serpent. Placing it not three feet
from our circle, and in the brilliant light of the
Southern sun, he covered the basket with its lid,
and then made the usual passes with the inevitable
cloth, about a yard square, which he held by two
corners to show that it contained nothing. His
costume consisted of one garment of the shirt order,
the sleeves of which were tucked up at the shoulders,
affording, it would seem, scant opportunity to hide
anything; yet, when after a few waves of the cloth,
he removed the lid of the basket, the dead snake
was gone, and in its place rose the majestic hooded
head and neck of one of the largest of cobras.

It must be remembered that when we see such
work in England or America it is done at a distance,
and on a stage, with all the assistance of stage lights
and shadows, but in this case we were out in plain
air, and near enough for the serpent to have stung
us.

The last trick consisted in a display of apparently
wonderful strength. A boy of ten years of age was
tied up in a large scarf with its ends attached to two

1 2 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

strong cords. At the ends of these cords were hol-
low brass cups about the size of an acorn. The
fakir, raising the upper lid of each of his eyes, in-
serted these cups thereunder, and with the hollow
side next to the eyeball, after which he pulled the
eyelids well down. Then with hands on hips and
head well back he arose to his full height, lifting the
boy a foot and more off the ground and swinging
him from side to side, the entire weight of course
falling upon the brass cups. It seemed a marvel
that the eyeballs were not destroyed. Perhaps
those who understand these matters can explain all
that was done, but certainly no magicians on our
stages have accomplished similar feats, and yet these
men are but common street performers.

But this is Sunday morning! let us desert the
world of magic and attend the worship of the one
true God. We have not far to go, as the church is
just over yonder in the arcade, towards which all the
English, civil and military, in Colombo are wending
their way.

In Ceylon, the service of the Church of England
is conducted upon strictly military principles. The
parson's sermon this morning was short and sharp,
and delivered with military precision. The lessons
were read by an officer in uniform, and in such a
tone as he would use in making a report to his
superior, while the ^soldiers furnished the music.
Several hundred of Great Britain's defenders were
present, all in white duck uniforms touched with
scarlet. In his box of state sat the Governor with
his family and aides. Overhead waved the slowly
swinging punkas, kept in motion by half a dozen

Rameswaram 13

disciples of Brahma, who, in common with some
wise-looking monkeys in a tree outside, looked on
in grave surprise at the simple worship of the Naza-
rene. The Hindoos were silent, but the monkeys
chattered now and then as though questioning what
it all meant, and upon the first sound of the trum-
pets fled away into the green gloom of the palms
and the scarlet glory of the poincianas, through
which the tropical sunlight filtered like drops of
rain, rain perfumed by the spicy breezes wafting
softly over the island and the slumbering Indian
Ocean.

CHAPTER II

THE PLAGUE

The Plague — The Means whereby it Spreads — Immunity of Euro-
peans— When the Rats Begin to Die — The Belief of the Natives
as to its Origin — Opinion of the Bombay Doctors — The Towers
of Silence during the Pest — The Gathering of the Vultures even
from Turkestan.

IT is somewhat with fear and trembling that the
traveller ventures into Southern India in these
days of 1898, — not so much in fear of the plague as
in dread of being quarantined in some impossible
Indian village, — but if he is en route for Burma he
must risk that, or waste three weeks in Ceylon wait-
ing for a ship. So far this year, the pest has not
broken out in the points to which we are going,
Madura, Trichinopoly, Tanjore, and Madras, al-
though there have been some few imported cases.
It is, however, slowly creeping onward, and if it
should enter Ceylon it would prove the total ruin of
that island, as there would be no market for her tea.
The pest does not, as a rule, attack Europeans.
How it is carried from point to point is as yet a
mystery. It is not epidemic but contagious. Many
think that the mosquitoes are the vehicle, others lay
it to the rats, and there is a premium offered for

The Plague 15

every rat, dead or alive. Others believe that it is in
the dust and mud and that the natives contract it
through their feet. The wife of our Bombay consul
suffered with it two years ago, and insists that she
got it by inhaling the dust of the city. When one
does succumb its work is short and sharp, and gen-
erally with one ending — death. Whole families
have retired at night apparently in perfect health,
and have been found dead in the morning. Two
years ago the people fled from Bombay by tens of
thousands, and the population decreased from four
hundred thousand to seventy thousand. The
hotels were closed because there were no servants
to run them, and silence and solitude settled over
the doomed city. To-day, though the place is still
infected, the cases are comparatively few and the
people have returned and pay no further attention
to the dreaded disease.

" First-class " travellers do not suffer much in-
convenience, save from frequent medical inspection,
but there is no doubt that many of the native
officials make the pest a cause for blackmail.
Twenty rupees would cause any one of them to
pass you onward, unless you were mortally stricken,
in which case you would not care whether you
passed or not.

In India the pest thrives in cold weather because
the people then gather indoors in a wretched state
of filth and poverty. Hence, at present, the station
of Outacamund, usually a health resort, is one of
great infection. Bangalore, standing also high, is
another, while the low-lying points in the Madras
Presidency, including that city, have had no cases

1 6 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

save those imported. We shall hope to reach and
pass that region before it becomes epidemic, and
before other countries declare quarantine against
that section. If we are not successful in this, then
we shall go north to the upper table-land, that of
Delhi and Agra, where, strange to say, they have
had no plague, though the weather is of course
much colder than in Bombay.

When the rats and mice begin to die it will be
known that the plague has arrived, and the mortal-
ity of the natives will be, as it always is, fearful.

One old man told me that he regarded the pest
and cholera as punishments sent direct from God ;
that he believed it is not the will of the Creator that
the doctors should discover a cure for either, or else
after all their study they would have done so long
since, but they have not, and the people die like
sheep in the shambles. A statue of the Queen in
Bombay was mutilated some few years ago by
natives, and immediately the plague appeared and
slew its thousands. That vandalism, he firmly be-
lieved, was the cause of its appearance. Of the
2 50,000 recorded victims in India, the Bombay Presi-
dency is responsible for 134,000, and the record there
is still looo per week, — the recorded deaths, — but
the real number is far above that.

When the plague first broke out in Bombay,
funerals were attended by all the relatives of the
deceased, but, as it spread, thousands and tens of
thousands fled the town. The railway station was
beleaguered ; the dead were left to the bearers — and
the dead were thousands, for few, if any, escaped
once that dread horror had seized upon them. Its

The Plague 17

attack was sudden, its work swift. In the English
club at Poonah six servants died in one night.

Major H told me that he was in a chemist's shop

one day when a fine-looking Eurasian woman en-
tered and asked for a drug. Then she suddenly
dropped down and was dead before anything could
be done for her.

To-day in Bangalore, the natives are dying by
hundreds, leaving their dead under the fruit stalls
and in old wells because of their dread of segregation
and the risk to their castes which arises therefrom.

Many white people have also been stricken, but
some of them do recover; as the pest is generally
considered a disease of dirt the immunity of Euro-
peans is attributed to cleanliness, and to the well-
ventilated condition of their houses. Mice as a rule
do not get the disease — rats do. Among the Hin-
doos the percentage of deaths is less on each floor
up from the ground. The difficulty in cleansing the
quarters of the poor arises from their intense desire
for seclusion. Dr. Weir of Bombay (see Times of
India, December 10, 1898) considers the spread of
the disease to be due principally to the rats, and to
articles of food and merchandise " infected by mice."
He also thinks that well-to-do people are more apt
to carry the disease than the poorer classes, but that
the danger of infection is not so great through
human beings as through merchandise. He believes
that the disease is now epidemic in upper India and
near the mountains. The poor are so constantly in
the sun that their clothes are disinfected, while the
reverse holds with the better classes. He considers
that the pest is contracted from the abrasions be-

1 8 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

tween the toes, and that dirt and dust kill the
microbes. Hence those " who walked in dust and
lived in dirt " were less liable to be infected than
those who avoided the dust and wore shoes. If
dirt is a preventative why clean the houses ? and
why is the death-rate so much higher in such places
and among the people " who walk in dust and live
in dirt " than among the other classes ? Apparently
no two opinions concur as to the scourge, its origin,
or cure.

The Times also states that " the course of the
plague depended upon how the rats moved," and
that more than fifty thousand rodents have been
destroyed at Bombay. Twenty-five thousand people
have been inoculated. They do not now object to
the operation as much as at first, because the Gov-
ernment compensates them for the time lost while
laid up with the fever. Pnumonic plague is the worst
form of the disease. Lately a woman died of the
pest after delivering a child, but the latter was quite
free from any symptom of the disease.

The Government of India is certainly placed in a
delicate and distressing position during the visit-
ation of these scourges. To forbid the Hindoo
method of burning — which never entirely consumes
the body — would cause a riot, therefore when the
epidemic was at its height, and hundreds of corpses
were awaiting the sacred fire, the effect upon the
living can easily be imagined. If a man is wealthy
he is well burned. If not, such wood as can be
paid for is furnished, and what is left of him is cast
to the dogs, or the river, as I happened to see at
Benares. As for the Parsis, they must be taken to

The Plague 19

the Towers of Silence, which, being but five in num-
ber, were totally inadequate to dispose promptly of
the many dead brought there during the worst times
in Bombay, and it is said that the waiting dead
around them multiplied in an awful manner.

It is surprising to note how little is known about
those Towers even in England. One of the great
London illustrated papers, The Graphic, if I remem-
ber correctly, gave a full-page illustration of a
' ' Scene at the Towers of Silence during the Plague. ' '
There was not a Parsi in all the groups of people
before them. The Towers were represented as tall,
square, and majestic structures, whereas they are
low, circular buildings some twenty-five feet high
and two hundred and seventy-six feet in circumfer-
ence, and are whitewashed. A small door part way
up the side gives ingress to the dead and its bearers,
who alone ever enter these abodes of horror. The
interior holds a circular grating some distance down
from the top upon which the dead are laid, the men
in the outer circles, the women next, and the child-
ren nearest the centre, where there is a well for the
collection of the bones. The Towers stand upon
Malabar Hill, the highest spot around Bombay.
Beautiful gardens surround them where, it is stated,

the relatives sit and meditate in the sweet silence
after their dead have passed away from thejr sight
forever." But if they do they must be deaf, -else
they would be driven insane by the horrid shrieking
and calling of the vultures, by the awful battles in
high air, amid the branches of the trees, and indeed
upon the ground before the people. Could there
be a greater horror than this ? Yet these Parsis are

20 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

the last people that one would imagine could ap-
prove of such methods. They are, as a rule, hand-
some, the men fine-featured, large-eyed, and stately
as to figure, the women very refined and pleasant to
gaze upon.

Yonder stand two dark-eyed dames dressed in
white cloth ; a silk mantle of pale yellow with a
black border is draped from the head and folded
gracefully around the figure. They are a very
bright, shrewd race, and are most intelligent talkers
— an improved, healthy, and handsome edition of
the Spaniards.

In the five Towers many dead can be taken care
of under ordinary circumstances, but it was impos-
sible to care for the hundreds slain by the plague.
Thousands of vultures were drawn thither by the
unusual state of affairs, and there can be little doubt
that this method of disposing of the dead was a
prime factor in spreading the pest. A chemist who
lived in Bombay during the whole time told me
that he saw a vulture drop a human bone into the
compound of a bungalow, and that shortly after-
wards nearly all of the native servants died of the
plague.

What could the Government do under such cir-
cumstances ? Earth, water, and fire being sacred to
the Parsis, and hence not to be polluted by that
most corrupt of all things, a dead body, what could
be done with the dead ?

A Parsi funeral is a solemn, stately procession
consisting of the corpse, its bearers, and many
mourners and friends, all dressed in white and walk-
ing two by two. The procession pauses by the

The Plague 21

house of prayer just inside the gates, and then
passes onward to a sign beyond which none may
pass save the dead and those four bearers, outcasts
like the mummifiers of Egypt, who carry it upwards
through that low door and out of sight forever. If
it has once passed beyond that sign-post no one may
stop it, be they ever so near and dear, and that pass-
age must be to them as the sound of the falling
clods is to us. One hears many tales — let us hope
that they are but " tales " — of those who have been
carried in there alive, never to come forth again.

What strange messenger carried to the vultures
even in Turkestan the awful tidings of the dead ?
How did they know what was happening or about
to happen in far Bombay, that they started on their
flight southward, appearing finally on Malabar Hill
in numbers never known before ? Five or six hun-
dred is their usual quota in that garden, but then
they were countless, and the Towers had a border
of black added to their summit as the vultures sat
closely crowded together while awaiting their feasts
— feasts that were not long in coming. It is claimed,
however, by the Parsis that, no matter how great
the number of the dead each morning, they were
disposed of in a very short space of time, and that
the idea that any fragment may have been " carried
off and dropped," thereby spreading the contagion,
is untrue, for the reason that when a vulture extends
his wings in flying he must open his claws, and
hence could not use them, and that he does not
use his beak. Be that as it may, even the plague
has not caused any change of ideas amongst the
Parsis that will result in the abolition of this, to

22 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

our thinking, objectionable mode of disposing of
the dead.

But the shores of the mainland and the port of
Tuticorin are in sight, and for better or worse we go
forward.

CHAPTER III

MADURA

The Panorama of the Peoples of India — The Approach to Madura
— The Feast to Shiva — The Gopuras — Courts, Sanctuaries —
"Tank of the Golden Lilies" and the Starving Queen — The
Sacred Elephants, Bulls, and Parrots — The Dirt of the Temple
— Responsibility of the Sacred Tanks for the Cholera — Legends
and Treasures of Madura.

T

HE panorama of the peoples of India never
loses its attraction for the stranger within her
borders. In China, in Java, in Japan, or in Turk-
estan there is a sameness in the multitude that
gradually destroys one's interest, but it is never so
in India. Each Presidency has its distinct types,
and with each shifting of the scene some new picture
is presented, different in every particular from the
last. As we land, my attention is at once attracted
by a band of dignified Mohammedans, waiting to
take ship to Colombo, and thence to Mecca. Many
wear the green turban of the Prophet. They dis-
appear and are succeeded by a stately lot of white-
robed Parsis, who withdraw themselves from the
common crowd, while all the avenues beyond are
filled with a steadily moving mass of Hindoos on
their way to the shrines at Madura.

23

24 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

As our train moves along we are never out of
sight of groups of them, and, as we approach the
city, the throng becomes a multitude. Each shrine
has its thousands of devotees, and the roads are
choked with those who are moving onward to the
festival of Shiva, under the shadows of those great
gopuras rising so majestically yonder. Men and
women of the lower castes are on foot ; those of the
higher ride on horseback, or in the quaint pagoda-
like ox-carts of the land. Yonder is a rajah, or
someone of degree, seated in state upon a gaily
caparisoned elephant whose clanking bells cause the
people to scatter right and left as he passes onward.

High on a rock burns a sacred fire, which must
burn until the rains extinguish it. Along the pass-
ageway to the holy flame are many priests of this
strange faith, instructing the people. But the mul-
titude press onward, carrying us with them to the
great shrine of the city.

What pen can picture Madura ? Mounting to the
roof of her royal palace, and gazing outward, the
traveller beholds on all sides an ocean of waving
palms with a gorgeous Indian city sheltered under
their branches. The streets are thronged and all
the people are in festal garb, crimson and scarlet
predominating as to colour. Against a sky of saf-
fron yellow the great gopuras (towers) of the temples
soar aloft more than one hundred feet above the
humbler dwellings, thousands of statues of the num-
berless gods crowding their pyramidal sides, while
fantastically carved dragons toss their wings upward
from the summits.

An encircling and jagged chain of mountains en-

ENTRANCE TO GREAT OOPURA, MADURA.

Madura 25

closes the valley of the city, reminding one of the
volcanoes of Java.

As the shadows fall we approach the precincts of
the temple. Myriads of lights begin to twinkle and
the festival of Shiva commences. All the ap-
proaches to the structure are thronged. Dark
figures swathed in white, moving silently and
ghostly, or glowing in all the colours of the rainbow,
press onward ; the women so decked out with golden
bangles that they dispense tinkling music as they
crowd inward to where the sacred bull rests em-
bowered in yellow flowers and encircled by blinking
lights. Each devotee, on passing the graven image,
reverently touches it with both hands, and then
transfers the blessing to his lips, whence it is wafted
to the abode of Shiva. Through an archway, glow-
ing with countless lights which are never extin-
guished, stretch the dark corridors of the temple, a
long vista of columns carved grotesquely in the
forms of gods and animals, while in the farther dis-
tance, to which we may not penetrate, stands a
golden Shiva adored by countless worshippers ; and
countless worshippers adored the god upon this
same spot when our religion was but a prophecy to
be fulfilled, for this portion of the temple is said to
date back three centuries before Christ.

In the court of the " tank of the golden lilies " a
live bull with gilded horns picks his way daintily
among the lamps, which cluster like glow-worms on
the steps. Silently the crowds make way for us,
silently they close around and follow after us, the
fitful torchlights showing their gleaming black eyes
and dazzling teeth, while their wreaths of yellow

26 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

flowers load the air with perfume. The swaying
forms of the sacred elephants fill the background,
their clanking bells sounding above the voices of the
people. The scene is Eastern, Indian, idolatrous,
and one never to be forgotten.

To-morrow we will return for a closer inspection,
but it is well to have had this weird, fantastic glimpse
of Madura in high fete in honour of the great god
Shiva.

It is always pleasant to have a first view of these
temples by moonlight or torchlight, as the full light
of the day brings out all the dirt and filth which are
forever attendant upon heathen shrines.

The visit to-day was most interesting. The
temple of Madura ranks next in size to Rames-
waram. It is a parallelogram of eight hundred by
seven hundred feet. There are nine great gopuras,
and there is a hall of a thousand columns. The

tank of the golden lilies " is surrounded by a
colonnade gorgeously painted with representations
of the most famous pagodas in India. On one side
you will observe the little chapel of Queen Mangam-
mal, who was starved to death in 1706, her subjects
placing food so near that she could see and smell,
but could not reach it. England has a like legend in
the case of Richard II., in Pontefract Castle. Ex-
quisite tortures have not been confined to the Orient.

We are greeted by the usual dense crowd of
natives, who follow us everywhere. Sacred ele-
phants, with foreheads painted in white, sway from
side to side on either hand ; their mahouts, on seeing
us, suddenly mount to their seats and advancing
down the corridors cause the beasts to kneel in salu-

Madura 27

tation. The sensation of the one to whom the
adoration is offered is peculiar to say the least.
Many bananas are offered and promptly devoured.
I give one beast a stalk which he rejects, while he
waves his trunk in doubt over my head, but I allow
him no chance to settle the matter. Sacred parrots
chatter at us, and sacred bulls butt their way amidst
the crowd, while a priest decorates us with garlands
of yellow flowers. His caste would be outraged if
he accepted less than a rupee for his attentions.

The carvings of this temple are most intricate and
marvellous, but the temples of Southern India must
not be compared with those of the Moslems, such as
the mosque at Delhi and the Taj. They are bar-
barically grand as to their exterior, their towers, and
their tanks, and grotesquely fantastic as to their
corridors and carvings, but they are filthy inside. I
know of no exception to this unless it be at Rames-
waram, but at Madura the very columns are soaked
in the grime and grease of ages. As for this " hall
of a thousand columns," it is considered the most
marvellous part of the temple, but it does not strike
me as such. It is low and dark, and though some
of the carvings are very remarkable, the majority
are very crude, in fact of the crudest description,
and it is all inexpressibly dirty. The water in the
" tank of the golden lilies," some twelve feet deep,
is a mass of green slime which must necessarily
breed terrible diseases. Hindoos regard all the
tanks as sacred, and their waters as blest by the
gods, and therefore to be greatly sought after. They
are undoubtedly the source from which cholera stalks
forth, and, I doubt not, the plague also.

28 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

It seems as though the risk of such diseases, espe-
cially the cholera, would be greatly decreased by
insisting upon the cleaning of these sacred tanks
and cisterns, and by having a flow of water pass
constantly through them. But, of course, the
Government dislikes in any way to interfere with
the religion of these people. Take, for instance, the
sacred well at Benares. It scores its victims by the
hundreds of thousands yearly, and might almost be
called the birthplace of cholera. If a few lives,
comparatively speaking, were saved by the suppres-
sion of the suttee, would it not be well to endeavour
also to save the millions that yearly die from these
" sacred waters " ? Would it not be an added pro-
tection to all the world ? for India sends the cholera
outward to all nations.

Madura is surrounded by countless legends of the
Hindoo faith. It was saved from Moslem destruc-
tion by Shiva's causing a stone bull to rise and con-
sume some plantains, a sure demonstration that the
Hindoo faith was the true one.

There are many treasures at this shrine, but the
most interesting and important are the bulls, drag-
ons, peacocks, palanquins, and platforms, all of solid
gold and silver and encrusted with jewels. The idols
are very large, and each has a day sacred to itself
when it is carried in procession through the corridors
of the temple.

Unfortunately, it rains heavily during our daylight
inspection and we cannot examine the gopuras as
thoroughly as we desire, but they are ever present ;
through every doorway and archway, and across
every enclosure, they rear their beautiful structures

Madura 29

high aloft, and travellers find that they never lose
their charm, beauty, and majesty. The accompany-
ing illustration gives a far better idea of their effect
than any pen picture, however graphic.

We do not escape from the temple without further
demonstrations on the part of the elephants. There
is apparently an organised plot to head us off in all
directions. Each corridor that we enter is blocked
by a great dusky form, and when we least expect it
a trunk is thrust in our faces demanding more ba-
nanas, but we notice above, back of the painted faces
and waving ears, the dusky countenances of the
mahouts, whose piercing black eyes are keen for
rupees that may be scared from our pockets. It is
the first time that I have ever played at " puss-in-
the-corner " with bulls and elephants, while parrots
of many hues act as umpires, and strange gods of
carved stone, or moulded gold and silver, gaze
stolidly upon me. The throngs of natives which
follow and wall me in are less disagreeable, however,
than many a collection of monks in Italy or crowd
in America.

CHAPTER IV

TANJORE

The Palace of the Rajah — Its Pageants, Elephants, Musicians — The
Splendours of a Durbar — The Palace Library and Hall of Audi-
ence— The Desolation of the Whole — The Pagoda of Tan j ore —
Its Stately Appearance and Superb Carvings in Stone — Its
Stone Bull and Holy of Holies — The Minor Pagodas — The
Passing of the Life and Wealth of Tanjore.

IN the days of its life, the court of the palace of the
Rajah of Tanjore presented within its stately pre-
cincts a gorgeous pageant whenever His Highness
held his durbars. In addition to the many elephants
of his establishment, swaying and rocking at their
chains, hundreds of others belonging to the court-
iers crowded the spot, making the scene brilliant
with their trappings, rending the air with their
trumpeting and the clanging of their many bells.
Their howdahs were gorgeous to behold, and their
attendants gay as parrots in the livery of their
masters.

Barbaric music from the royal players rose above
the subdued murmurs of the crowd as the nobility
of the land passed on under lofty arches to where
His Royal Highness sat in state to receive them.
With all his jewels blazing upon him he scarce out-

30

Tanjore 31

shone the gorgeousness of many of his subjects, and
the shadowy precincts of the Hall of Audience
glowed with prismatic colours as the sunbeams
pierced its twilight.

At its entrance, long rows of slippers, red and
yellow, had been left by their owners before they
passed into the presence of the Rajah, where they
crowded both sides of the hall. The open space
before the throne was occupied by girls who moved
with a peculiar floating motion, keeping up a mon-
otonous and low murmur of song which ever and
anon rose into a weird incantation.

In the great library, the learned men of the palace
pored over manuscripts in all known tongues, while
from behind the lattice of the women's quarters
came the sound of laughing voices. All was life
and splendour.

How changed are the days at the palace ! Into
its great, empty court we rattle in bullock-carts, and
draw up with much noise and little dignity at the
arched entrance, where of old there were always a
hundred elephants. Now there are two, one a
young one that rebels at its loneliness, the other so
old that its gaunt skull looks like a death's-head.
Its small eyes are sunken almost out of sight, and
its great frame sways wearily to and fro, as though
anxious to be gone after all the others, dead now
for many years. This one they say has passed its
century, and could tell tales of much splendour, and
of much horror, no doubt — for all was not sunshine
for those who lived in the palace at Tanjore one
hundred years ago. He shows his age as would an
old man, and the weight of years is too much for

32 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

him. He was once one of many that clanked their
chains about this courtyard ; he can remember grand
processions, when the old Rajah came in state to
the palace, when the howdahs glistened with jewels,
when crimson, and cloth of gold, and gems orna-
mented his own huge bulk. Then, his forehead was
painted like a Cashmere shawl, and his toes were
gilded. He can remember the multitude that
bowed before his prince as he bore him through
yonder arch, and onward to the great pagoda, where
the highest in the land were in attendance. But
that is gone now — he is the last of his company;
he has seen the vanishing of all that glittering
throng.

The Hall of Audience stands unaltered, but is
empty and deserted, save on the throne, where a
marble statue of His Royal Highness holds forever
its silent state. On the walls around hang the por-
traits of the long line of rajahs. Their eyes follow
us, and instinctively we glance behind almost ex-
pecting to be called to account by some dusky
attendant, but no sound breaks the silence of the
empty palace. From the window of the Queen's
court comes no sign of life, but as we pass onward
the wild, barbaric music of the court musicians
rends the air and tears the silence into tatters. Still
it holds the notes of mournfulness, is full of a wail
of sorrow over all that is gone forever into other
courts, into other Halls of Audience, and we in turn
depart, leaving the marble semblance of the ruler
alone in the palace, save for the moonlight which
streams in upon it, seeming to quicken the cold
stone into full life.

" ! m

• • <K ¥^»
- fVV>.

Tanjore 33

It is often the case that the places about which
one has heard the least prove to be the most im-
pressive and interesting. This is true of the temple
of Tanjore, which, to my thinking, is the most im-
pressive, the most stately, in Southern India. The
entire temple is of stone from the foundations to
the highest point, whereas the most majestic portion
of Madura, the gopuras, are of stone only in their
lower stories, all the upper section being of plaster
and stucco. The main pagoda of Tanjore rears its
majestic outlines two hundred feet above the centre
of an immense colonnade, under the arches of which
are a vast number of shrines, while small temples
flank the greater one on either side. The entire
structure is a mass of beautiful carvings in bold re-
lief, and the effect of the whole is wonderfully en-
hanced by the dark red of its sandstone, toned to a
point of beauty which can only be accomplished by
the flight of ages, and Tanjore is nine hundred years
old. What a multitude of graven images! But the
statues of these Hindoo gods do not impress one as
do those of Buddha at Boero Boda; there is a smirk,
and sometimes almost a grin, about these, which
seems to indicate that they are well aware that they
are not true gods — that they are in fact playing a
part; while no one who has ever gazed upon the
statues of Buddha can fail to be impressed with their
majesty and dignity.

Another vast difference between the carvings of
the Buddhists and the Hindoos lies in the fact that
there is never any suggestion of the impure or ob-
scene in the works of the former, whereas the Hin-
doos seem to revel in the depiction of all that is

34 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

vile, especially upon their temples. I have to-day
examined a photograph which shows the carvings
upon some great gopura. Nothing viler or more
obscene exists in any section of the world, but such
does not appear to be the case at Tanjore.

This temple differs materially from other temples
in one point. The gopuras elsewhere are mere en-
trances and gateways, answering to the propylons
of Egypt, but here the gopura, though of the same
general design, rises in the centre of the temple and
covers the holy of holies. In other words, it is the
temple proper before which crouches the stone bull,
a majestic monolith in black marble, some twelve
by fourteen feet, which possesses a pagoda of its
own and rests upon a platform. What it sees in
the darkness of the holy of holies we are forced to
imagine, as we may not enter. In fact, nothing
save the power of England renders our presence
possible even in the outer courts of these heathen
shrines. Murray tells us, however, that this shrine
contains in the centre a huge black slab of marble
which upholds the " lingam." There is also an
image of Shiva facing south, while close by is the
shrine of the god whose duty it is to report to the
chief god the arrival of worshippers.

A thorough inspection of the carvings of Tanjore
would occupy the traveller for weeks. Its smaller
shrine, that of Karttikeya the son of Shiva and
the deity of war, is considered to rival the great
pagoda in its cut stone work, and is considered the
most beautiful structure in Southern India. So it
may be in detail, but the soaring majestic outlines
of the greater structure are far more impressive and

GREAT PAGODA OF TANJORE.

Tanjore

35

attractive, and the eye returns again and again to
its satisfying outlines. With the passing of the
wealth and power of the rajahs, Tanjore lost its
estates and income and, to-day, stands silent and
deserted.

CHAPTER V

MADRAS

" The Forsaken of God" — The Indian and English City — The Vile
Hotel, Bats, and Toads — The Cobra — Habits of the Serpents —
Harbour of Madras — Teeming Life on its Beach — The People
and Crows — Plague Inspection — Approach of the Test — The
Hand of England in India.

THE north-east monsoon is still raging as we ap-
proach the largest city of Southern India.
All the land for miles around is covered with vast
sheets of water, and the rain falls in driving torrents,
while the ocean moans and thunders outside the bar.
This harbour is so unsafe that ships have to put to
sea at such times, and all up and down the Coro-
mandel coast there is no port of refuge, from the
mouth of the Ganges to where Cape Comorin faces
the Indian Ocean. This is the region of cyclones,
tornadoes, and tidal waves. One associates such
names as Pondicherry and Madras with all that is
fearful and awful in the elements, and now, com-
bined with the god of storms, the skeleton of the
" Black Death " is surely advancing upon all this
section of the land, justifying the title which the
English have given to the city of Madras — " the
forsaken of God."

36

Madras 37

Like all Anglo-Indian cities, Madras, with a popu-
lation numbering four hundred thousand, covers a
territory about equal to that of a city of five times
its population. Its appearance from the sea is im-
posing and majestic, as all the great Government
buildings are stretched along the esplanade, and
from the tower of the municipal building a brilliant
light shines by night far out over the tossing waters.
Vast commons stretch backward from the shore, and
" Black Town," the old city, is close by the river,
which separates as it nears the sea. In order to
reach the residential portion of the city one crosses
these arms on three fine bridges.

The English section possesses very wide and im-
mensely long avenues bordered with fine trees,
which, in season, must present a gorgeous sight, as
many are Poinciana regias. All the houses stand
well back in large compounds full of trees and
shrubs, the general appearance being fine, though
in detail such is not the case. Travellers fail to
understand the philosophy of the domestic English
architecture in Southern India. Though a land of
enormous rainfalls and of great dampness, it is the
custom to build a house flat on the ground with no
sort of cellar nor chance for ventilation underneath.
My room in this most wretched hotel, the Elphin-
stone, is raised above the mud outside only by the
thickness of its cement floor, which is all cracked
and mouldy. I fully expected to have last night's
deluge flood the whole apartment. A mouldy mat-
ting covers the cement, while the plaster of the
dripping walls is green with mould. The bath-room
is infinitely worse, but one does not have to sleep

38 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

therein. Bats fly around my head as I write, and
a constant soft pat, pat, over the floor causes me
to make an inspection with the lamp, whereupon
dozens of small toads hop off into corners from
which they regard me with a serious mien, ap-
proaching a little nearer now and then — but one
does not mind toads!

Madras is noted for its cobras, and I confess that
I spend a half-hour in stopping up all possible means
of ingress for that most beautiful of serpents. It is
sacred with the Hindoos because, upon discovering
one day in the desert a newly born son of one of the
gods, whose life would soon have passed away under
the fierce rays of the rising orb, a cobra coiled itself
near the babe, raised its head, and distended its
hood, thus making itself all day long to that baby
as is the " shadow of a great rock in a weary land "
to the traveller. But, in these latter days, it brings
death and not life to those it approaches. These
serpents always go in pairs, and if you kill one you
may be sure that its mate will track it. Therefore
be on guard for your life. There are no serpents in
this beastly room to-night, however; still I barricade
against all possible enemies, and tucking the curtains
in securely, sleep until tea is brought in at daylight.

In the present condition of the country a man in
Madras is, as it were, in a pocket. Quarantine may
be declared any day, and I hasten to get off on the
ship to Rangoon.

There is no harbour at Madras. The waves roll
in between two stone breakwaters and thunder on
the beach beyond, so embarkation is no easy matter,
and I see that I am to have another sensation during

Madras 39

the process — travel in the East is made up of sensa-
tions. The sands swarm with a motley concourse
of beings, most of them without clothes. Men,
women, and children live here all their lives and
everything goes on in plain air. It strikes one as
decidedly odd to see grave-looking crows amid such
a crowd, — black, with a grey mantle, they are verit-
able preachers in appearance, — but a Madras crow
is not a priest nor anything else that savours of
divine. Of all the crows in India he is deemed the
most impudent and the greatest thief. He knows
what he wants, and whether or not his right may be
upheld by law, he takes it. If you stop him he as-
sumes an insulted look and jabs at you. During my
passage to the water I have been treated in this
manner several times by crows that I happened
to disturb. They said but little, but they meant
what they said, which is perhaps much more than
can be claimed for many of our lawmakers under
the dome of the Capitol.

The traveller can reach his ship only by means of
a great, clumsy surf-boat or hulk some twenty feet
long by eight broad and five deep, shaped like the
half of a cocoanut. Such a craft cannot, of course,
be drawn up high and dry, as it would be impossible
to float it again ; therefore, after my luggage has
been dumped aboard, two dirty blacks approach and,
sans ceremony, grab me by the legs and elbows and
proceed seaward. Dirt or no dirt, plague or cholera,
under such circumstances one clings like death, until
the side of the barge is reached, where for an instant
one balances between mud and dirty water inside,
and sharks and clear water outside. In my case the

40 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

balance is settled in favour of the former by a black
who seizes my feet and hauls me inward. Some
twenty or thirty men rush into the water, lay hold
of the lumbering craft, and roll us into the surf.
That it does not upset is a miracle, but once at sea
it proves very steady, and I am soon on board ship.

The inspection by the port doctor was a mere
form, and I have no doubt that he is often deceived.
He asked me where I came from and took my word
for it, and merely touched the wrist of my servant,
certainly not long enough to discover whether or
not he had fever. However, as yet, Madras has not
been infected and all ports are open to her, but as I
look forth from my safe harbour on this ship I won-
der how long or how short the time will be before
the stalking spectre of death shall cast its shadow on
her sky, before the rats begin to die, and the people
to vanish like the mists of the morning. In the
south, the death-rate among the white people has
been much greater than in the north, though they
can fight a better battle than the natives and some-
times recover. Under the circumstances I confess
that I am glad to quit India.

It is at all times a pleasure to note with how firm
but kind a hand England governs these peoples.
She has learned only through sad experience, but
she has learned, and to-day all the millions of the
land live more contentedly and in greater accord
than they have ever done. Let us hope for the
sake of humanity that her rule will never end, for
she would certainly lose her place among the great
nations if she lost India, and chaos would ensue
throughout that land.

CHAPTER VI

BAY OF BENGAL

Passage of the Bay — Dangers of an Insufficient Provision for an Ac-
cident— Native Crowds under Deck — Life of a Saloon Passen-
ger on these Ships — Edison and Omdurman — English Opinion
of that $20,000,000 Paid for Manila — Cholera on Board — Pros-
pect of Quarantine — Landing at Rangoon.

S. S. Putiania, BAY OF BENGAL, December 2, 1898.

GIVEN a small ship of twenty-eight hundred
tons, and possessing but eight medium-sized
boats, load the craft with two thousand coolies in ad-
dition to her first- and second-class passengers and
her crew, and one has the elements for a terrible
tragedy if an accident should occur. Such boats as
could be lowered would not carry a fraction of the
human freight aboard this ship. It is horrible even
to think of the scene that would ensue, and one
could only hope that God in His mercy would send
the craft swiftly to the bottom. There should be
a law against such overcrowding, and yet when the
captain is interrogated his answer comes promptly
in the form of a question: " What great Atlantic
liner carries enough life-saving apparatus to save
her human freight ? " None do so, as I was forced

41

42 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

to confess, yet I fancy that most of the lines would
insist that they send out their ships well equipped
for any emergency.

As I look down on the lower decks yonder, the
mass of wriggling, seething blacks resembles a den
of serpents. How utterly unmanageable and how
terrible they would be if the slightest cause for com-
motion occurred ! They are on the way to Burma to
work in the rice-fields, and will receive a rupee each
(thirty-two cents) per day as against one quarter of
the sum in India. There are many women among
them, and they all live, eat, and sleep pell-mell
down there, while on a raised hatch in their midst
my servant, together with those of several English
officers on board, holds his state separate and apart.
Yonder is a black woman with rings on toes and
fingers; she wears also anklets and bracelets, ear-
rings and necklaces, all of gold and silver, while her
black baby sits on a box, destitute of all clothing,
but laden with jewelry. These people carry their
wealth in that way, and are often murdered for the
treasure.

Near the mother and child are some Nautch girls
whom we have vainly endeavoured to induce to
dance for us, and beyond is a wriggling, kicking
mass of scantily clothed men, whose black eyes
gleam snakelike in the half-light under the awning.
I cannot study them as closely as I should like, as
every one of the four thousand eyes appears riveted
upon my face, especially the pair belonging to a
maiden at the foot of the steps. The men, as a
rule, wear only a breech-cloth, while the women
drape themselves in one long garment, which they

Bay of Bengal 43

manage to wrap in a graceful manner about their
persons.

The women are not unpleasant in appearance, and
one cannot but feel deeply sorry for them. Yonder
are two little girls, one twelve and the other eight
years of age, both bright, pretty, and intelligent
children, and apparently well educated for their
years, but what sad fates await them ! The elder is
already married, and will go to her husband when
she reaches her fourteenth year. He is past fifty —
such matches are common — and will of course leave
her a widow long before we should consider a woman
as fully matured. According to Hindoo laws she
cannot remarry, and there is no future for her. She
will probably do as many of her sex in this Eastern
land have done — enter a life of shame, very likely
in the house of some Brahmin.

Life on these ships is generally pleasant for the
traveller. I have as companions in the saloon three
English officers, also a Scotch broker of Rangoon —
all agreeable, intelligent men. Most of the time is
passed in listening to yarns of army life in the far
colonies of the British Empire, or else just doing
nothing, lazily ensconced in long cane chairs.

Will it be news to our wizard, Edison, to know
that he had largely to do with the success of Eng-
land in the battle of Omdurman, where Gordon was
at last avenged ? So it would certainly appear, as it
is stated that the search-lights used by the English
completely disorganised the forces of the Mahdi, so
far as the night attack was concerned.

I remarked to Major H , who related the cir-
cumstance:

44 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

' ' You see you cannot get along without America. ' '

" God bless you, man, we don't want to," was
the reply.

The report comes now that our Government has
offered Spain $20,000,000 for the Philippines.
There is general indignation amongst the English
officers over our doing so, and one remarks, " Why
pay her a d — d dollar ? How many do you think
we would pay her under the circumstances ? " But
a truce to grave subjects — they are not for such air as
this.

It is most unusual to see any animal life as one
passes over the ocean, but to-night as I watch the
sun go down over the Bay of Bengal, across the
broad river of crimson cast by his dying rays slowly
passes a great black shark, his dorsal fin and tail
cutting the waves like the keel of a boat.

Major H comes up behind me as I call his

attention to the glory of the departing day.

" Bosh, talk of the sunsets at sea! It is the sun-
sets over Piccadilly that I admire, and the beauties
of nature that walk the streets. I am sick of sun-
sets after thirty years in India."

Has the dreaming mind any power of connection
with, or knowledge of, passing events ? All last
night I was troubled with dreams of death and
funerals, and on awakening this morning was in-
formed of two deaths during the night among the
coolies, both caused by cholera, and followed by
prompt burials in the sea. This may mean a quar-
antine of endless duration for the ship, for if cholera
has broken out among that seething mass below,
God alone knows what the end will be, or whether

Bay of Bengal 45

any of us will escape to tell the tale. It is not a
cheerful outlook and we are very grim over it as we
see the fatal yellow flag hoisted to the foremast.
What will the port doctor say ? (These ships carry
no physicians of their own.) Yonder tug will settle
the matter, and we wait with a hopeless kind of
patience.

Evidently cholera is not dreaded as is the plague,
for after an inspection of the coolies, the ship
moves onward, and we land with no detention
whatever, save what is occasioned by those who
pause to utter a fervent " Thank God," as we reach
terra firma and are free.

CHAPTER VII

BURMA

First View of the Great Pagoda — Sarkie's Abominable Hotel and
the Fight therein — Clubs and Parks of Rangoon — English Sec-
tion— Value of Burma — Season for Travel — Departure for
Karthay — Cool Air of the Irrawaddy — Sail to Bhamo, and Ap-
proach to China — Teak Forests — The Elephant at Work — Sa-
gacity and Strength — Cost of a Healthy Beast — Bhamo — Its
Trade with China — Ancient Joss-House.

FROM the long line of the Himalayas as they
stretch east and west across the continent of
Asia several ranges of mountains run southward
into the peninsula of farther India. A spur divides
that peninsula into two sections, the westward half,
bound north and east by these mountains, and
south and west by the Bay of Bengal and India,
forming what is called by man " Burma," a land
noted for its teak-woods, its rice, carvings, and
lacquer-work — a land of commerce and Eastern
romance.

As the traveller approaches from the sea, the
coast shows low and sandy, and slowly encompasses
our ship as she steams up the muddy Irrawaddy;
but long before the land evolves itself from the
water the great pagoda of Rangoon, catching the

46

Burma 47

light of the morning sun, gleams like a cone of gold
rising from an ocean of mist. As our ship draws
nearer we find that the temple stands on the top of
a hill around whose base the foliage of the tropics
rolls its leafy waves.

Along the water-front the city presents some
shapely buildings, and the stream is filled with a
goodly number of craft, European and Asiatic. To
the newly arrived traveller Rangoon is a disappoint-
ment, and at first sight the one word " rickety "
describes it better than could be done by a volume
of six hundred pages. Many buildings are of brick,
but dusty and slovenly in the extreme. The hotels
are an abomination. " Sarkie's," which is called
the best, would in dirt and squalour put to shame
any of the hotels of India, or the worst post-houses
of Transcaspia. The orgies which go on there after
dark are a disgrace to the authorities that allow
such a state of affairs. Coming in about midnight
on Monday, and expecting semi-quiet at least, our
ears were greeted by a tumult from the dining-room,
which, increasing momentarily, lasted until three
o'clock. No licence for the sale of liquors is re-
quired here, and they sell all night. Each of these
establishments possesses a barmaid, and the one at
Sarkie's had ascended from below stairs, celebrating
her entrance by striking an unoffending man over
the head with a soda-water bottle. A fight ensued
and raged all over the place. In any other spot on
the globe the police would have put a quick ending
to the affair and closed the house, but I am told that
these police, being all natives, would not dare to
arrest a European. Scarcely credible under British

48 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

rule! It was hours before those of us who were
forced to stop at Sarkie's knew what quiet was.
The whole establishment is a disgrace to the place.

It is not agreeable to be obliged to make such a
statement, but perhaps it may do some good. It is
pleasant on the other hand to render thanks for the
attention and hospitality of those with whom it has
been my good fortune to travel, and who have made
these few days bearable. The " Jymkhana " Club
is a pleasant spot and full of agreeable people, and
the open-hearted hospitality of the English here
causes one to forget all that is disappointing.

As the day declines we drive to a very beautiful
park with some lovely lakes therein. It will stand
comparison with most of the parks in Europe, and
the view from the pavilions, comprising the lakes
with their border of tropical foliage, the distant
prospect over the surrounding country, and the
great pagoda, soaring high in the heavens and glit-
tering like a vast stately lighthouse, is certainly
unique of its kind.

As the boat club is out to-night, the scene is very
animated, and were it not for the palms and yonder
group of yellow-robed priests, we might fancy our-
selves in Europe.

Rangoon is laid off in very wide avenues shaded
by handsome trees. The houses are undoubtedly
the best for the place and climate, though at first
they strike a foreigner as odd, to say the least.
They are all raised on stilts and are of open work to
a degree most amazing to those not accustomed to
such publicity in a dwelling.

Of course, dust soon arises no matter how wet the

Burma 49

season has been, and all Rangoon looks dusty now,
though the " rains " are not a month past, and the
" rains " this year meant almost a downpour from
April to November.

Considering the fact that England has had com-
plete control of Burma only since 1885, the results
already attained in the development of the country
are marvellous, and will repay her a millionfold.
Burma is a very rich country and is one of the largest
producers of rice. Her resources are such that in
the opinion of some authorities it is probable that
in time she will be of more value to England than
even India. It is stated that a lack of capital is the
great drawback here, and that fifteen, twenty, and
even thirty per cent, can be obtained for money
with the best security offered as collateral, but the
greater part of mankind regard Burma as being be-
yond the end of the world. The railroad into China
will probably bring a large trade from that country.

This is the best season here; the nights are cool
and comfortable, and the days are not unbearably
hot. It has been said that Burma is " ten degrees
hotter than hell." It may be so in the summer,
but it is pleasant now.

These people possess strongly marked Chinese
characteristics, and it would, therefore, be impos-
sible for me to find anything charming in the women
about whom one hears so much. I am told that the
pure types are to be found in the upper country, and
so I will suspend judgment. They are considered
clever, and are the " business men," so to speak, of
the family. If you contract with a carpenter it is
his wife who carries on the negotiations. All the

50 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

dwellings, native and European, bear the Chinese
stamp, the thick walls of India having disappeared.

Our train starts up country at 6 P.M. We have
decided to go through to Karthay and Bhamo and
to stop at Mandalay on the way down. It will take
thirty-six hours, as the distance to Karthay is some
six hundred and fifty miles. The dust is frightful ;
it covers everything by morning, and would be un-
bearable were the nights not cool. As it is, we sleep
well.

The mountains are not visible until the day is well
advanced, the landscape presenting a vast level
plain covered with dusty acacia trees. It would
almost appear as if, in the centuries past, some genii
had passed over Burma and strewn it with countless
bells, great and small, whose handles rear themselves
by thousands in every direction. Like all other
Buddhist pagodas, these are solid and are supposed
to contain some relic. They stand singly or in
large groups, some old and grey, some white and
new — many in ruins. It is not considered merit-
orious to repair a pagoda, but decidedly so to build
one, hence the vast and constantly increasing num-
bers of the sacred structures. It is a great drawback,
however, to the interest of the traveller when he
finds that these pagodas are all substantially alike,
and that to have seen the best is to have seen all.
This is not the case with the Indian temples, where
no two are alike, but in Burma the traveller soon
comes to regard them simply as a picturesque ad-
dition to the landscape.

As the train passes north, the mountains close in
upon us in a long yellow chain, like unto those of

Burma ' 5 1

the Valley of the Nile. Yellow rivers roll their
sluggish waters seaward, and all along their banks
stretch the matting walls of the native houses, each
with its bunch of pagodas, making the scene most
picturesque.

Our long railroad ride ends at Karthay, where we
board a small river boat such as are used for post-
boats on the Nile. There are four comfortable
cabins and a pleasant deck with easy-chairs, all de-
lightful to our tired bodies after the rough jolting
of the train. The Irrawaddy stretches yellow and
sluggish before us, and as we advance slowly it
curves between low-lying banks. If the distant
mountains were yellow the resemblance to Egypt's
sacred river would be most marked.

The air has become so cool and fresh that our top-
coats are in order. We are not so far from the great
Himalayas, whose vast snow-fields must temper all
the air of upper Burma. This is the country of
great game, and it is not uncommon for the tele-
graph poles to be knocked over by elephants, or for
a royal tiger, of which the forests hold thousands,
to bound away through the dense jungle as the iron
horse rushes around a curve. So far, neither in
Southern India nor in Burma have we seen any
monkeys, whereas in Northern India they abound
both in towns and country.

The banks of the Irrawaddy are covered with a
dense and very tall growth of pampas-grass with its
plume-like flowers waving snowy and pure above it.
Ever and anon the canoes of the natives shoot out
from some cool creek with a swiftness worthy of the
Indians of the St. Lawrence, whilst amidst every

52 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

thatched village, and often high on the mountains,
rise the sacred pagodas; some are gold and some
pure white, but most of them are grey and ancient-
looking, and, to my thinking, much more beautiful
to look upon than the more brilliant structures.

We have reached once more the land of flowers,
and yonder garden is full of a reign and a ruin of
roses. There are those simple old home flowers,
the marigolds, sacred to a garden such as each of
us holds dear, where one's mother wandered amidst
her roses and marigolds long ago in our better and
purer days. How life changes with us all ! How
much we have to remember, and how much to
regret, and how the perfume of a flower, or the
glint of the gold of the marigold, brings it all back
to us!

The air here is full of freshness, every breath
being charged with life and health — a wonderful
change from the languid, heavy atmosphere of Ran-
goon. In fact, the atmosphere at the sea-level in
the tropics produces a nameless horror, a sense of
boding ill, and forces one to realise that one is
mortal.

We are evidently approaching the confines of the
Celestial Empire. The roofs of the houses begin to
turn upwards at the corners, while the ridge-pole
sinks a little in the middle. The eyebrows of the
people slant more towards the temples, the noses of
the women are flatter, and those boatmen yonder
boast no clothing save a vast straw hat shaped like
a mushroom, which acts as an equal protection
against sun and rain. The race is apparently a
healthy and happy one, and as every house stands

Burma 53

high above the ground I fancy they are spared many
of the ills which attack the people of India who live
down in the dirt. The pagodas have lost the bell
shape of the south, and are composed of many roofs,
one above the other, each smaller than the one be-
low, and on that one in the distance a Chinese
dragon flaunts in all its glory and gorgeousness. A
flight of steps leads from the river to the main portal
of the structure, and the noonday sun lights up the
blazing coronet of an alabaster Buddha, while
the sounds of sacred gongs float softly outward over
the waters.

The forests have changed completely, all the
palms and bamboos have vanished, all the flaming
flowers of the tropics have disappeared. Yonder
cool wood might be of the temperate zone; the
mountains are a deep blue in colour, and the clouds
have a rain-washed look and seem to hold snow in
their bosoms. As evening approaches the air is full
of the fragrance of pine trees straight from the
region of falling waters, while the rays of the set-
ting sun send long golden shafts through the aisles
of the stately forests, and the wild clematis casts
its snowy bridal wreaths from branch to branch.
Great rafts of teak-wood drift slowly past us, steered
by some of these little people. The forests from
which the wood is cut are much higher up than
Bhamo, the trees still remaining in this section
being strictly preserved by the Government.

The teak is a very large and stately tree with a
clean trunk for seventy feet before its branches
spread outward. The forest grants are from the
Government, and trees of only a certain size are

54 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

allowed to be cut. Elephants are used in the haul-
ing to the rivers, and sometimes thirty of these
great beasts are harnessed to a single tree, which
may measure some forty-five feet in length. This
length is governed by the height of the water.
Elephants are brought all the way from Moulmein
below Rangoon, and take five months to reach the
mountain forests. An elephant is trained to his
work by hunger, a year being consumed in the
teaching. It is quite possible to teach a full-grown
beast captured in the forests.

There would seem to be small necessity for intro-
ducing steam or electric power into certain depart-
ments of trade in Burma. In the lumber business,
for instance, aside from the sawmill, there are other
forces which are cheaper and perhaps better than
the modern inventions. Elephants are used most
successfully, and it is a strange sight to see those
enormous beasts quietly working away, using their
great power in the moving, piling, and sorting of
the great teak-woods. In one yard in Rangoon
there are nine at work. Their actions are almost
human, and there appears to be a perfectly under-
stood system of signals, composed of guttural words
and strokes of a stick, between the beast and his
rider, who sits perched aloft on a seat like a saw-
buck, and who guides his charge by gentle taps of
the stick and of his heel. His slightest motion
seems perfectly comprehended by the elephant, as
perfectly as a " high-school " horse understands the
wishes and motions of his rider.

Yonder are two engaged in piling timber which
must first be drawn from the mud into which the

Burma 55

receding tide has sunk it. An elephant is stationed
at each end, and after one has lifted his end from
the ground by inserting his tusks under it, he wraps
his trunk around it and holds it high enough to
allow the beast at the other end to get his tusks and
trunk at work, when in concert they move forward
and place the timber in its proper place. Timber
after timber is so deposited, each evenly placed so
that the completed pile, .which rises as high as the
beasts themselves, is a regular, symmetrical cube.
Then the elephants stalk softly away, some to enter
the water after stray logs, others to drag the sawn
timbers away from the mill. This is done in several
ways: sometimes by a collar around the neck to
which traces are attached, but often the beast seizes
a rope in his mouth, this is attached to a chain the
other end of which is wrapped around the timber,
and so it is dragged alongside the elephant's body,
and never once does it get on his toes.

I notice that with some of the beasts the tusks
appear sensitive, and then the trunk is used as a
buffer between them and the timber. Why the
trunk is not pierced is a mystery, but it does not
seem to be injured in the least. As I stood watch-
ing one at work, I had a practical illustration of the
silence with which they move. Something touched
me lightly on the shoulder, and glancing backward
I saw a huge beast quietly waiting for me to get
out of the way. I really think that if it had been
possible he would have gone around me, but as he
was dragging three great pieces of timber, each at
least twenty feet long and a foot thick, he awaited
my pleasure, and I promptly indicated it to him by

56 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

moving with a jump, it seemed to me, ten feet or
more. He was an ancient and kindly old gentle-
man, with the same twinkling expression that I
have often observed in gentlemen of his age, but
not of his size. As he passed onward he flapped
his great ears in salutation, regarding me solemnly
the while.

The strength of these beasts is marvellous, and
when put in force at the end of a timber, that tim-
ber moves, no matter what bars its progress ; yet just
here comes in one of the greatest evidences of the
intelligence of the worker. Yonder is one shoving
a heavy timber towards the sawmill. He evidently
believes in husbanding his strength, for, finding the
log badly hampered by others around it, he mounts
the pile and sorts them out in a dignified manner.
Seemingly he has eyes all around him, as he makes
no false steps and his hind legs appear to know
just where they should be placed. One can watch
the working of these elephants for hours with
interest.

A fine, healthy animal costs some forty-five hun-
dred rupees, and no good one can be bought for
less than three thousand. After the year's in-
struction very little trouble is experienced with them.
There is one here that, when he is weary, simply
lifts off his rider, and no amount of coaxing will in-
duce him to do more work that day. This firm
employs two hundred beasts in the forests, and last
year they lost thirty through sickness, anthrax being
the most prevalent disease. A healthy beast will
often die during the night. They are generally
worked until 10 A.M., and then for two hours in

Burma 57

the afternoon. As the female has no tusks, she is
not as serviceable as the male, but excels in intelli-
gence, in which faculty she resembles her human
sisters.

Navigation on the Irrawaddy is of a primitive
character. The boats are run only during the day,
as the slightest approach of night completely upsets
the pilot, or else his position on the under deck ob-
scures his sight of the course. At all events, he has
run us aground once, and through two bamboo
rafts, whose poles came rattling about us like hail
in summer. Why the paddles were not destroyed
is incomprehensible, as the bamboo is very tough
and difficult to break. The raftsmen appeared to
care very little and had little to say, nor did they
lend the least assistance in extracting their flotilla.
It was done at last and went drifting off into the
darkness between the high cliffs which have closed
in on the river. The landing for the night is shortly
reached, our craft moored to the bank, and its human
cargo sinks into slumber.

Daylight shows the morning mists lying so thickly
over the river and hills that the steamer is unable to
start before nine o'clock, and even then is forced to
anchor in midstream once or twice, but the sun's
rays are too strong for the vapours, and we are en-
abled to resume our journey. Our arrival at Bhamo
will be delayed, but it matters not, as that place
contains nothing of interest, being simply the
farthest northern point to which the steamers run
at present. It is in sight as I write. The valley of
the river has spread out into a circle some twenty
miles in diameter, enclosed by a chain of mountains

58 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

not more than three thousand feet in altitude at the
highest peak.

The left bank of the stream presents a curious
sight just at present. A concourse of buzzards
have selected that side for a bath, and great is the
commotion. As each bird emerges from the water
it hops away, and, turning its back to the sun,
stretches its wings to their utmost in order to dry
the feathers. It is a very odd sight to see whole
rows of these great birds standing in this wise like
huge bats, and not at all disturbed by the steam
whistle.

Bhamo is the most northerly point in Burma where
England has a military post. It is some fifteen
miles from China on the east, but Burma extends
two hundred miles farther northward. Caravans
from China come to Bhamo to load and unload, but
when the railroad is completed the trade of Burma
with the Celestials is expected to increase greatly.
Even now Bhamo is quite a trading point. It con-
tains about nine thousand inhabitants, most of
whom are Chinese.

There are very few pagodas here, and none of any
interest or importance, but there is quite an interest-
ing Chinese joss-house standing within an old Bur-
mese fort. On either side of the gateway are the
figures of an armed warrior holding his horse. The
old joss-house is immediately within the gates and
contains some curious images. Among them are
two colossal figures of the good and evil genii. Be-
yond and behind is the new temple where Buddha,
in alabaster, sits in high state with ten ingeniously
modelled figures on either side, while small figures

Burma

59

abound overhead and all around. Every section of
the temple, old and new, is coloured to that point
of gorgeousness so dear to the Oriental ; the deco-
rating of this inner shrine cost some fifty thousand
rupees (about $16,000) and was done by the best
artisans of China.

CHAPTER VIII

IRRAWADDY AND MANDALAY

Down the Irrawacldy — The Steamboats — Scenery en Route — The
Mingun Pagoda — Approach to Mandalay — Appearance of the
Outer Town — Cleanly Appearance of the People — The " Fort"
— Burials Alive under its Walls — The " Jars of Oil " and their
Portent — The Golden Palace — Pavilion of Audience and Dragon
Throne — King Theebaw — Upper Burman Club — Palace of the
Queen — The Lily Throne Room and the Murders which Oc-
curred there — Life at the Club— Military Smoking Concert in
the Open — Mandalay Hill — Temple of the "Seven Hundred
Pagodas" — Sacred White Elephants — State of the King —
Ploughing of the Fields — Fears of Usurpation — Burial of the
King.

NOW we start southward down the sacred river
until Prome is reached. It would be a diffi-
cult task to describe the fantastic panorama of that
thousand miles. The steamer we board at Bhamo
is an express boat, and much superior to the small
craft which brought us here. It has large cabins and
a large dining-room enclosed by Venetian blinds.
There are electric lights and all that is needed for
the traveller's comfort.

Our start downward is under the most propitious
circumstances — no fog. The mountains of the
Celestial Empire rise clear and sharp against the

60

Irrawaddy and Mandalay 61

bright blue sky, and the long winding stream glit-
ters in the ever-increasing sunlight. Crowds of
natives squat along the banks and gravely regard
our departure. The Chinese have no more expres-
sion than a wooden image, yet the race has a
mysterious attraction, and their vast empire is in-
teresting to explore. On the farther side of that
broad chain of mountains the traveller would find
many Janizaries, and all that strange, mystic life of
the Chinese and Thibetans — but our way lies south-
ward.

The first gorge below Bhamo presents some very
fine scenery, which we passed in the night on the
way up. The Irrawaddy narrows to a few hundred
feet, and, at one point, passage seems impossible,
the channel being so contracted. The climax is
reached in a towering precipice which rises grandly
upward from the river's edge. Near its base, on
the pinnacle of a detached rock, is perched a small
pagoda, its golden pyramid and scarlet base stand-
ing out against the dark green background and
glowing in the sunlight. This air is delightful, and,
if forced to live here in Burma, I should certainly
make frequent pilgrimages up the river where every
breath is full of vigour for body and mind.

It does not take long to reach the hot lowland,
and after passing Karthay one feels again the tropical
air full of languour and sleep. The disposition to
walk vanishes with the cool breath of the mount-
ains, and deck-chairs are again in demand.

The river grows wider and wider as we approach
Mandalay. Pagodas stud more thickly the banks of
the stream, and, some nine miles above the capital,

62 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

the vast masses of the Mingun Pagoda are to be
seen, picturesquely placed on a knoll above the
river. Its huge, misshapen bulk covers a square of
four hundred and fifty feet, its height being but one
hundred and fifty-five feet, or about one third of
what was intended, but the work was never com-
pleted and an earthquake rent the huge structure
into many fissures. It is the largest mass of brick-
work in the world, but the late King Mindohn Min
attempted to surpass it. He commenced the con-
struction of a pagoda which was to have been built
of stone; whole hills were called upon to furnish
the materials, and canals miles long were built to
convey the blocks to the spot. A French engineer
stated that with five thousand men working every
day, eighty years would be required for its comple-
tion. After four years of labour, during which the
foundations were completed, the work was aban-
doned, and with everything connected with it stands
a ruin to-day, just to the east of Mandalay under
the Shan Hills.

The mountains lose their stately forests and much
of their height as the steamer nears the capital, so
that the approach to Mandalay is not impressive.
It would be 'difficult to make an impressive scene
out of muddy waters, sand-banks, and barren hills.
The sand-banks are the enemy of navigation on the
Irrawaddy, and suddenly arrest our steamer's pro-
gress when she is within a mile of the landing-stage,
holding her fast for two hours, so that it is long
past noon when we land in the aforetime royal city
of King Theebaw.

It is hot and dusty as we drive away from the

Irrawaddy and Mandalay 63

water, and heat and dust both increase until the
desire to return to the steamer almost overpowers
the desire to see this famous city. By the courtesy
of Major H I am " put up " at the Upper Bur-
man Club, and shall not have to endure the hotel,
which, from report, is the worst in Burma.

Forty years ago this city of Mandalay did not
exist, its site being a vast swamp and jungle. Then
a royal edict appeared, after a consultation of the
stars by the astrologers, commanding the removal
of the capital from Amarapura some twelve miles
away. Death was the penalty to all who refused,
save in the case of the Chinese. Fear of the British
Empire, and probably of that of China also, caused
the King Mindohn Min to abandon the project so
far as the Celestials were concerned, but all others
promptly obeyed the edict. Down came stately
palaces and straw huts, and all were soon erected
where we see them to-day, thus forming Mandalay,
the " City of Gems." Love of trade, however,
brought all the newcomers among the Celestials to
the new capital, and all the substantial houses
therein belonged at first to either Chinese or Mo-
guls, the natives having no right to erect any save
those of straw.

The streets of Mandalay are very wide and not
paved in any way, the result being, as already stated,
that the dust is suffocating as we drive to the

fort." The shops and houses on either side do
not present an attractive appearance, and the travel-
ler wonders whether these are not merely the
suburbs of the city, until a sudden turn in the
avenue brings the " fort " into full view. That,

64 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

he knows, is the very heart of Burma, so this must
be the main portion of the outer city of Mandalay,
and thus it proves.

One thing strikes the passer-by most favourably.
Unlike most Eastern towns there are no bad odours,
and " Yoe " * tells us this is owing to the vast num-
ber of scavenger dogs and of swine. As for the
people, though not so interesting to look upon as in
the days of Theebaw, they still form a very motley
collection drawn from all the races of this section of
the world. These streets are to-day full of a varied
and ever-changing panorama, but old habits and
laws are difficult to overcome, and the life and bustle
fall back and away as we approach the entrance to
the royal enclosure.

Travellers on their way to the club will enter at
once upon the scenes connected with the fall of
Mandalay and the surrender of King Theebaw. His
royal city, now called the " fort," together with all
the buildings which were once the scene of his
luxurious court life, is now in daily use for the
branches of the British Government of Mandalay.
The fort might be called the " Kremlin " of Burma,
but in size it would contain several of the Russian
citadel. It is a square of a mile and a half each
way, surrounded by a deep moat one hundred and
fifty feet wide which is crossed by five bridges. In
the royal days, before 1885, state barges floated
upon the waters of this moat, but to-day nothing
breaks the placid surface save countless lotus pads
bearing aloft their pink and purple blossoms.

The entire square inside the moat is encompassed

* The Bur man : His Life and Notions, by " Shway Yoe " (Stuart).

Irrawaddy and Mandalay 65

by a brick wall fully thirty feet high and deeply
denticulated its entire length. The bricks of this
wall are of a dark red colour and are laid flat, ap-
parently without mortar or cement. Over the twelve
entrances rise fantastic, many-storied towers, and
it is in connection with this wall and its gates and
towers that the traveller encounters his first reminder
of the horrible cruelties and barbarous superstitions
of the old Burmans.

The land has possessed many royal cities since the
days of old Pagahn, and human sacrifices were con-
sidered to sanctify and protect a new capital.
Therefore when Mandalay was commenced, in 1858,
fifty-two persons of both sexes and all ages were
buried alive, three under each of these twelve gates,
one under each of the four corners, one under each
of the palace gates, and at the corners of the tim-
ber, or inner stockade, and four under the throne
itself. The victims were persons of position, the
boys could have no tattoo marks, the ears of the
girls must not be bored. When it became known
that the selection was being made the city be-
came deserted. The Government gave great enter-
tainments, all unattended, but the "tale" was at
last completed.

Four jars of oil were also buried, one at each
corner of the city, carefully covered and protected.
They were examined every seven years, and so long
as they remained intact the capital was considered
safe. In 1880, it was discovered that two of these
jars had become empty. Small-pox had carried off
two of the King's sons, a great crown ruby had dis-
appeared, and the royal tiger had escaped from its

66 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

cage, a sure sign that the town would soon be turned
into a wilderness.

Something must be done; Mandalay had become
too substantial to be moved or abandoned, and it
was decided to make human sacrifices of" a hun-
dred men, a hundred women, a hundred boys, a
hundred girls, a hundred soldiers, and a hundred
foreigners." The panic in Mandalay became so
great that the city was threatened with depopula-
tion. Fright at the indignation of England caused
the King and his ministers to countermand the
edict, but it is claimed that people were buried
alive under each of the posts at these twelve gates.
All this happened less than twenty years ago. Truly
we do not have to turn to the Dark Ages to look for
horrors.

The cornices of all these towers, as well as all the
royal buildings of the fort, are of beautifully carved
wood, flamboyant in design and resembling the tails
of dragons thrown flauntingly into the air. Of
course, all the buildings of -Burma save the pagoda
and this wall of the fort are of teak-wood, which is
almost as durable as stone.

Entering the royal enclosure by its western portal,
the traveller will find himself confronted by the
famous dragon throne of Burma. It is placed under
the great spire of the palace, called " the centre of
the world," and is really a portal in one wall of the
Hall — or rather pavilion — of Audience, and is sur-
rounded by an elaborately carved framework, all of
dragon tails. Its platform is raised some three feet
from the floor, and is richly ornamented by small
mirrors set into its sides. Entrance to the throne

DRAGON THRONE OF KING THEEBAW, MANDALAY.

Irrawaddy and Mandalay 67

is had by means of a flight of steps in the rear, and
through two sliding doors of open scrollwork, the
whole, and all of the palace as well, being covered
with gold-leaf which is carefully preserved around
the throne, and is as brilliant to-day as when King
Theebaw gazed his last from yonder doors upon his
court in the hall of columns.

During the days of royalty the traveller would
have been permitted to enter this throne-room, not
through the great portals which stand open to-day,
but through a small door so low that all must as-
sume an humble posture as they entered the Pres-
ence. Shoes were left at that portal and were
generally stolen. A squatting posture was incum-
bent upon all, and as this posture could not be
changed it insured exquisite torture when His
Majesty delayed his coming for an hour, or hours,
which he often did just to impose this torture.
While waiting you might observe, to the right, the
hall of the Supreme Council.

All the halls of the palace are supported by
columns, red at the base and gold the rest of the
way, none of which are less than twenty feet in
length, and as clean and solid as the day they were
removed here from Amarapura.

The age of this structure does not seem to be
known. Was it built new for Amarapura, or was it
transported thither from some older capital ? It
may have made several peregrinations.

But it is hot. Let us return to the shelter of its
roof. Back of the Hall of Audience are innumer-
able other halls used of old for the different func-
tions of the royal establishments. The courts on

68 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

both sides are occupied by the dwelling-places of
those who were in attendance, and by the many
tanks and towers always to be found in connection
with these royal abodes.

The Upper Burman Club occupies the best pre-
served and the most beautiful of all the buildings,
the palace of the Queen. Here is her famous lily
throne, another gorgeous conception of flying
dragon tails in carved wood. Its apex is a prow
of a royal barge with a queen's statue as a figure-
head, while other queens and princes adorn the
carving up and down its sides. As with the King's
throne, grilled doors give entrance from behind to
a platform ; it is also similar to the greater throne
in being a mass of gold-leaf and mirrors. In fact,
the whole structure, as well as all the walls, col-
umns, and roof of the hall, are a mass of gold-leaf.
It is truly a unique place for a club-house, and a
charming place as well. The room behind the
throne is a card-room, where the great American
game is not neglected.

When Theebaw came into power some seventy of
the blood royal were murdered within the precincts
of this palace, and, it is said, were buried under the
floor of this room where cards are now being played.
Possibly they were claimants to the throne, and it
was considered well to be quit of all chances for
trouble. So the men were slaughtered, and the
women also, after having been subjected to name-
less tortures. " Shway Yoe " tells us that the treat-
ment of the children recalled the days when ravaging
hordes marched through the land with babes spitted
on their pikestaffs for standards. The old Regent

Irrawaddy and Mandalay 69

of Pegu had his " nostrils and gullet plugged with
gunpowder and was then blown up."

All this occurred just here while dancing and
music were kept up to drown the cries of the vic-
tims. The guilt of these murders was laid at the
door of the Queen and the Queen Dowager. His-
tory has repeated itself of late in the Empire of
China, where the Dowager Empress holds supreme
command through the medium of a weak emperor,
and many executions.

But to return to the Burmese palace. The audi-
ence hall of the Queen with its stately columns is
now a library and writing-room, the latter being
wainscoted by screens of coloured glass, enclosing
small mirrors of all shapes imaginable. In an outer
room I can see punkas waving over the billiard-
table, and through the vistas of the garden one
may discern the summer-house where Theebaw laid
down his crown at the bidding of England. The
chambers of the club are in the many detached
buildings of the court. Mine, from its position,
must have been occupied by some favourite of the
King in the old days, but to-day, if you approach
any of the wooden structures, you will probably be
saluted by a deep English voice demanding, " Boy,
punka," or more likely a " half a peg and a split
soda," but if you enter you will receive a hearty
welcome, while at the same time " boy " is ordered
to double up on that " peg and soda."

Life at the club at Mandalay glides smoothly and
pleasantly along, and one leaves with regret and
with grateful remembrances for its warm-hearted
hospitality. It is full of officers of the army, and

70 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

from each and all I have heard nothing save the
kindest expressions of feelings towards my own
land, while at the same time indignation is con-
stantly expressed at our action in paying the
Spanish a dollar for Manila. Many are the plans
suggested for a closer union of our nations, one
being that we furnish the army, while Great Britain
furnishes the navy. Then, as one man expressed
it, " The rest of the world might go to Ballyho."

After dinner last night I went to a smoking con-
cert given in the open air and before a roaring
camp-fire. All the officers of the Burma service, in
full uniform, surrounded the Commanding General
and the ladies of Mandalay, while on either side
stretched a circle of private soldiers (English and
native), and beyond them groups of grave-eyed Bur-
mese. As for the concert, it was what might be
expected from a lot of jolly soldiers, and what it
lacked in artistic merit was made up in good-will
and good-fellowship.

Mandalay Hill rose in the background, upon which,
in ghostly array, gleamed the white pagodas of the
people, while behind us clustered the temple of
the seven hundred pagodas, where the religion of
Buddha stands graven in stone. The usual bell-
shaped structure is surrounded by more than seven
hundred shrines, arranged in an immense square; in
the centre of each is a tablet in stone thickly carved
with portions of their holy book. The whole is en-
closed by a high wall for protection, and stands a
most interesting and impressive monument to the
religion of Buddha.

The vicinity of Mandalay is so covered by pagodas

Irrawaddy and Mandalay 71

that it is impossible to visit many of them ; but
they are so much alike that when one has seen the
great structure at Rangoon one has seen the best of
all.

Much of Mandalay has been destroyed by fire, as
wood enters largely into the construction of the city,
and for months at a time there is no rain.

As the traveller passes through the streets of the
city he may be pardoned if he longs for just one
day's return of the court life. It would be interest-
ing'to see the King rise up from his golden throne,
clothed in his robes of state and his spire-like crown,
and, mounting his white elephant, proceed to the
ceremony of ploughing the fields. This omitted,
no good crop could be expected. White elephants,
we are told, do not mean white as to colour, but
simply a certain shape of the ears or a fringe on
both sides of the tail. A white elephant was a
sacred elephant, and could be used only by the
King. Gorgeously arrayed, and shielded by a white
umbrella, he sallied forth, attended by all the high
dignitaries of Church and State, in crimson caps and
crimson mantles, like those of a Doge in Venice.

The royal road had been shut off from the sight of
his subjects by high bamboo fences through which
they were not expected to peep, but through which
they did peep. However, the " Rotten Row " of
Burma was deserted when the King and court passed
outward. He really did do a little ploughing, but
spent much more time watching his fat ministers
doing it. It is hot in Burma, especially in June,
and the ministers did not enjoy this sacred custom,
but little cared the King; he kept them at it until

72 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

he grew tired of the sight, then he signalled for a
return to the palace and his dragon throne, perhaps
wondering the while whether some usurper had not
occupied it during his absence, as often fell out in
Burma. The fear of such an occurrence was one
reason why a monarch rarely left the royal enclosure.
If the usurper proved the stronger, the King's body
passed to the keeping of the waters of the Irra-
waddy, securely done up in a red velvet bag. That
river has proven the sepulchre for many of the royal
house.

The return to the palace was not made with that
degree of splendour which marked the outgoing;
the robes of state were discarded for cooler gar-
ments, and a chariot drawn by bullocks took the
place of the elephant. As the cortege passed on-
ward the city awoke to life, and the fete of the
people assumed full proportions.

But fetes and shows have passed forever from the
court of the palace of Mandalay. King Theebaw
lives a life of idleness and pleasure on the Bombay
coast, whence but lately he sent word to the Gov-
ernor of Mandalay that a new stock of wives would
be acceptable, as he was tired of the thirteen who
were with him.

CHAPTER IX

MONASTERIES

Foundation of the Monasteries — Queen's Golden Monastery in Man-
dalay — Carvings and Gildings — Sleepers and the " Butterfly
Spirit " — The Enthroned Buddha and his Sanctuary — The
Tower of Contemplation — Duties of a Monk — His Begging
Outfit — Picturesque Costume — Closing Services before the
Shrine — The Ending of the Day — Ritual of Ordination —
Strange Medicines — The Four Cardinal Sins — Punishment for
Violation thereof is Like that of the Leper of Old — No Su-
preme Being — Christianity and Buddhism Compared.

AS with God, so with Buddha, the groves are his
first temples. Every monastery must be em-
bowered in beautiful trees, for under a tree Buddha
attained his full dignity. Under one he was born
and died, and the last Buddha of the world will
receive his office under the trees. As in the Christ-
ian faith, so in the Buddhist, kings and nobles vied
with each other in erecting sacred monasteries.

The more one studies this religion, the more
strongly does its resemblance to our own, in many
of the lesser points, become apparent. ' Take thy
shoes from off thy feet " holds in Burma where
these sacred buildings are concerned, for all, from
the King down, must do that when they enter the
holy precincts ; and it is ordained by the priests that

73

74 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

the site of every monastery is holy, as, since Bud-
dha's time, it has been used for sacred purposes and
none other. It is a pleasant sight to see the doves
that congregate within these sacred enclosures; the
murmuring of their cooing is music to the ear.

It is a matter of great regret that so many of the
finest monasteries of Mandalay were swept away by
the fire which destroyed " the incomparable pa-
goda.'' If a few more conflagrations occur there
the loss to the world will be great, and that which
is now a unique corner of the globe will be turned
into a dusty, barren waste. As these buildings all
stand detached, in separate compounds, it would
seem that much that has been lost might have been
saved, but, of course, being constructed of wood,
the liability to blaze is great during the dry season.

Every town and hamlet of Burma possesses at
least one of these sacred institutions, and in the
cities they are numberless.

The Queen's golden monastery in Mandalay forms
one of the most interesting collections of buildings
in Burma. It is within the city and covers an entire
block. The great monastery occupies the centre of
the square, and around it, at a respectful distance,
are placed the buildings of lesser rank, each and all
beautiful in rich carving; but to describe one is to
describe all, and the great building will more than
suffice for that purpose. It is raised, as are all the
buildings in Burma, some ten feet from the ground,
the approach to this main platform being by several
flights of massive steps, made of brick covered with
grey cement, but all the rest of the structure is of
the time-defying teak-wood.

Monasteries 75

This main platform runs entirely around the
monastery, and supports three buildings of the usual
Burmese form, which somewhat resembles the chalet
style of architecture, save that here the lines all
turn upward. Two of these buildings have lofty,
many-storied, receding roofs, while the third bears
on its summit a soaring, many-storied tower.
Around each roof, along the ridge-poles and eaves,
run standing cornices of the most delicate and elabor-
ate carvings, while curtains of exquisite woodwork
hang from the eaves. The walls of the structures
are in panels with glass in the centre, and every
atom is elaborately carved except the steps and the
glass. All of the buildings with the exception of
the high tower are covered with gold-leaf that never
tarnishes. The effect, under a brilliant sunlight,
and embowered in trees, can be better imagined
than described.

The noonday heat has caused the monastery to
be closed, and we enter through a low door in the
corner, finding the place full of shadows athwart
which every here and there gleam long rifts of sun-
light. Gilding and red lacquer show dimly in the
half-light, as does the soft, dull yellow of the silken
robes of sleeping priests, or the blazing gold, brass,
and bronze of the great sanctuary.

No one would dare to awaken these sleeping
monks, lest the butterfly (spirit) which is off some-
where in space might be frightened and never return
to its earthly habitation, and the result would mean
death. This religion does not admit of a spiritual
essence of any sort in man. It is considered to be
merely a sixth sense called the " faculty of know-

76 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

ing," but it is material. They do not deny its im-
portance, for by it a man can attain to the higher
heaven through meditation which the possession of
this sense enables him to carry on. But the exist-
ence of a soul and its separation from the body and
flight to heaven they do not admit. However,
superstition, or what you will, has crept in and
proven stronger than pure doctrine, and the result
is the butterfly spirit. They believe it can separate
from and return to a sleeper. It is often, however,
frightened away and never returns.

Dreams are to the people a sure proof of the exist-
ence of the butterfly. If two people have loved
devotedly, and the death of one is followed immed-
iately by that of the other, it is because their but-
terflies could not be separated. With us it would
be called a broken heart. No Burman can be
induced to awaken a sleeper, and so we seat our-
selves in the shadow until it pleases the butterfly of
some one of these yellow-robed dreamers to return
to earth.

The odour of lilies is heavy on the air. The lights
gleam faintly before the sanctuary where Buddha
enthroned is also dreaming, his bronze features
almost startled into life by one long ray of brilliant
sunlight which comes slanting downward, lighting
all the jewels of his crown into quivering flames.
The place is a forest of shadowy golden pillars and
dim recesses — a place of peace, a spot to dream in.
But the butterfly spirit has returned to the abbot,
who has been sleeping on a mat with a heap of
yellow flowers near his head. Rousing, he wel-
comes us, and with dignified gestures gives us the

ENSHRINED BUDDHA GOLDEN MONASTERY, MANDALAY.

Monasteries 77

freedom of the place, and then returns to contem-
plation, his hands clasped around his knees, upon
which his shaven head is bowed, his yellow robe
flowing around him in billowy folds.

The building is of but one story, as no Burmese
will allow anyone to live over him. The interior is
one hall, supported by columns of red lacquer and
gold, with now and then a screen between them.
The colossal figure of Buddha is of brass, beautifully
polished, and so perfectly joined that the lines of
meeting cannot be discovered.

The many-storied tower on the right in the illus-
tration is used as a place of retirement and medita-
tion by the monks, in imitation of Buddha, and
every passing breeze draws sweet music from its
many golden bells.

The Buddhist monk is not troubled as to the
spiritual welfare of his people; he has no care for
the salvation of their souls. His wants are supplied
by the people; if he travels they pay for it. He
has simply to enter a car or steamboat, and to in-
form those around him that he desires to go to such
and such a place. A contribution is at once taken
up, his passage paid, and his food provided for.
He literally takes no thought for the morrow. The
people expect nothing from him in return for their
charity. He is not required to preach, or to give
comfort to the sick and dying, or even to assist at
the last rites of the dead. In fact, all he has to do
is to seek his own salvation. He must be forever
poor and humble and full of kindness for man and
beast. He must live apart from the world, and
" observe certain moral precepts." His earthly

78 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

possessions and wardrobe are scanty. He must be
possessed of the dookoht, a yellow rectangular cloth
worn in folds like a mantle; also of a cloth worn
around the loins, falling to his ankles and held in
place by a girdle. There is another mantle-like
cloth thrown over the whole costume; he wears
sandals, and his head is shaven. He carries his
begging-bowl, a short-handled axe for wood-split-
ting, a needle, and a water-dipper. This must be
a strainer, so that he runs no risk of taking animal
life. A fan completes his costume.

These monks may use no colour in their dress
save a dull yellow and orange, and a group of them
passing in and around one of their fantastically
carved temples, embowered in luxurious trees,
presents a most picturesque sight.

With the dawn of day comes the clatter of the
wooden gong, the Kaladit, making noise enough to
rouse the deepest sleeper. Then comes the morn-
ing prayer: " How great a favour has the lord
Buddha bestowed upon me in manifesting to me his
law, through the observance of which I may escape
hell and secure my salvation."

The morning service is intoned before the great
image of Buddha. The simple work of the day
follows — cleaning the temple, watering the sacred
trees, the offering of flowers at the shrines. Medi-
tation of some hours precedes the simple meal,
which they take, not to please the appetite, but to
satisfy the body.

As the sun rises and the shadows shorten, these
sacred institutions assume their most picturesque
appearance, for then the monks sally forth and beg

Monasteries 79

their food. With their abbot at the head they de-
scend the steps in single file, their yellow robes
brought into bold relief by the grey of the found-
ations, while above them glitter the golden walls of
the sacred house, and above all bend the magnifi-
cent trees which are always to be found surrounding
them. Slowly the procession winds its way outward
and into the town, and with stately steps makes its
daily rounds, pausing constantly to receive the food
which is showered into the alms bowl, but returning
no word or glance of thanks. They confer a favour
by receiving.

These alms should by the laws of Buddha furnish
the daily food, but the degenerates of to-day give
it to the boys, dogs, and birds, while they sit down
to a well-prepared meal. In fact, the monks of to-
day, with few exceptions, live very luxurious lives.
They strive after the forms and ceremonies, and
most of the minor things in life, but surely miss the
greater end. Meditation, aside from teaching, is
their principal occupation. Only by meditation
does simple man become fitted for Neh'ban, and
possession of the six kinds of wisdom : " the
faculty of seeing like a spirit, the faculty of hearing
like a spirit, creative power, knowledge of the
thoughts of others, freedom from passion, know-
ledge of one's own past existence."

Therefore they sit and dream, and much of their
dreaming is but another word for prolonged sleep.

As the sun goes down all who wear the yellow
robe must be within the walls of the monastery.
The scholars are examined and recite, rituals are
chanted, sometimes a sermon is delivered, until the

8o Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

shadows deepen into night. Then the vesper lauds
are chanted, after which a voice proclaims the hour,
the day of the week and of the month, and the
number of the year. Then the yellow-robed figures
make their salutations before the abbot and before
Buddha, and glide away to rest, and the day is done.

The books of the Buddhist ritual of ordination
are written in characters, to read which a special
education is required, and the ceremonies of conse-
cration are too long and too elaborate to be more
than referred to in a sketch like this. A candidate
is examined as to his bodily health, and questioned
as to any hereditary taints, as to his legitimacy, age,
etc. The rule of poverty is impressed upon him,
he is in duty bound to beg for food with the labour
of his feet. He must gain his sustenance by his
feet and not with the hands, or beg with the tongue.
Buddha decreed yellow clothes made of rags from
the streets, or from among tombs, but now if a
monk can procure cloth or silk he may do so, and
most of them do, their costumes being very rich as
to texture and beautiful in colour.

The Buddhists of Burma do not dread other re-
ligions, and so long as their monastic schools are
attended they have no cause for fear. All other
sects are tolerated, with no apparent effect on the
numbers of their following. Still, there are troubles
among the faithful. There are two parties, one of
which adheres strictly to the faith as Buddha gave
it, — and the purest Buddhism is found here in
Burma, — and the other, which has become luxurious,
wears silken garments, and has made many changes.

One rule which strikes the observer as very

BUDDHIST PRIEST, MANDALAY.

Monasteries 81

strange is as follows: " U is incumbent upon an
elect to use as medicine the urine of the cow or
black bullock in which the juice of a lemon or other
fruits has been poured." It does not say for what
complaint this may prove beneficial. He is warned
against four sins: carnal pleasures, stealing or covet-
ing, killing any living thing, and the arrogation to
himself of supernatural perfection or power, or to
assume vainglory as a holy man. Sooner can the
lofty palm that has been cut down become green
again than an elect guilty of the disregard of these
laws remain a member of the order. The penalty
for such sin is the entire exclusion from the society,
and nothing can palliate the offence. He would be
stoned by the people and, in some localities, put to
death. If he is excommunicated he is driven forth
like a leper of old and may not drink of a running
brook or a wayside fountain. He is an outcast in
the fullest sense of the word. As a Mohammedan
will not step on a piece of paper for fear it may con-
tain the name of Allah, so a Buddhist must walk
carefully lest he crush the smallest atom of animal
life.

There is no supreme being in Buddhism; neither
are there any prayers. The doxologies repeated
are often the composition of the persons themselves
learned at school :

I worship the Buddha. I worship the law, etc.
By worship I gain merit and purity of heart and am
freed from starvation, plague, and warfare, from
hell, and at last pass into Neh'ban."

This religion, while it strives for perfection in the
lesser things, fails most utterly and entirely in the

6

82 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

greater. Buddha walked forth and gave his body
to save the starving tigress and her cubs. His fol-
lowers are most gentle and tender of all animal life,
and will not kill even a poisonous reptile in their
houses, but their indifference to human life is ap-
palling. They will not lift hand or foot to save it.
How different are the teachings of the Nazarene!
He gave Himself as a sacrifice, but for mankind.
His doctrine teaches love and sympathy for His
people. " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of
the least of these, ye have done it unto Me " is an
unknown creed among these Buddhists, but they
will go out of their way to save the life of a snake.
Surely the one religion is immortal, while the other
will pass away when the final cycle of Buddha shall
have been reached.

CHAPTER X

BURMESE CUSTOMS

Farewell to Mandalay — Brilliant Scene on the River Banks — The
Women of Burma — Their Dress and Appearance — Childbirth
and the Useless Suffering Enforced by "Custom" — Cargo
Steamers and the Gay Life thereon— Marvellous Tattooing —
Its Significance — Superstition and Magic — Horrible Customs
and Weird Incantations.

NOW farewell to Mandalay. My stay here has
been most interesting and delightful, and one
not soon to be forgotten. I do not get off without
a visit to Signior Beato's curios, and some of them
will go westward with me. His display of wood-
carving is especially fine. These people excel in
this, and to our notion it is marvellously cheap
(though the Signior does not give his curios away).
Some of it is delicately beautiful, and some gro-
tesque, but all is interesting, and being of teak-wood,
it is very durable. There is also beautiful work
in silver and ivory and exquisite embroideries —
but it is some distance to the river and we must
move on.

Travel on the Irrawaddy has lost much of its fas-
cination since the building of the railways, still the
scene on the banks as we wait to depart is full of life

83

84 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

and interest. It is blazing hot, but that appears to
make no difference, save to the Europeans, who
scurry under cover. The banks are very high and
very dusty. There are several steamers about to
depart both up and down the river, and each has its
separate crowd of travellers accompanied by the
usual gang of pariah dogs that snarl and snap at
every foreigner they catch sight of. Now the crowd
separates and in stately procession approach a lot of
yellow-robed monks, each carrying a golden um-
brella, while high on the banks pass a string of
elephants clanking their bells and chains and flap-
ping their huge ears.

Yonder group of women must be persons of con-
sequence, as they are treated with a deference fully
equal to that accorded the monks. The sister of
the late Queen has just died in Rangoon and these
are her relatives and members of her suite going
down to the funeral. That old woman in pink and
blue silk is evidently of high estate, as every native
man that passes her immediately kadaws* and keeps
kadawing all the time he is in her presence. The
entire court travel second class, notwithstanding
their exalted rank.

It is marvellous that Burmese women ever consent
to bear children, or rather that they should willingly
run the risk of going a second time through the
tortures visited upon them by the customs of the
land, and " custom " in all these Eastern lands is
more absolute in its power than any ruler of this
world past or present.

In Burma " custom " prescribes that after a child

* See page 466, " Yoe."

BURMESE WOMAN.

Burmese Customs 85

is born, the poor mother, no matter what the tem-
perature may be, shall be covered with all the rugs
and blankets that can be procured. She is also
heated to a burning-point by hot bricks placed
under her body. This is kept up for a week, when
what is left of the poor creature, who is generally a
mere child, is allowed to go free; but years have
been added to her appearance, so that an old hag
has been produced from what was but a month
back a fresh young girl.

There is not a young face among all that gaily
dressed group, and most of them are wizened and
old as a woman should not be at sixty. When got-
ten up en f£te, however, these Burman women pre-
sent a gay appearance. The costumes are always
composed of soft silk, which lends itself to graceful
draping. Yonder stands one with a pink silk sarong,
which falls from the waist quite to her feet in grace-
ful folds, very unlike the stiff, immodest fashion
prevalent with that garment in Java. She wears a
white waist, and a pale yellow scarf. Her masses
of black hair are coiled on the top of her head with
a bunch of flowers inserted just over the ear. You
can easily see that aside from a pair of sandals she
wears no other clothing. She certainly looks clean,
yet, judging from the many strange scenes con-
nected with the toilet, which one witnesses in the
street, the appearance may be deceptive.

The costume of the men is apparently exactly the
same as that of the women save for a slight shorten-
ing of the sarong. There are dozens of these gaily
dressed individuals on the river bank, watching our
departure, and the scene is a brilliant one. Our

86 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

route is down-stream and we have taken passage on
a cargo boat, one of those curious craft which supply
the river people with all they desire, and which
afford an opportunity to study Burmese life to ex-
cellent advantage.

To either side of a paddle steamer is attached a
double-decked barge, and thereon are to be found
almost all the articles that Edgeware Road or Sixth
Avenue can produce, very few native goods being
displayed. Halts are made at every village and the
people swarm on board by the hundreds, and great
is the haggling, noise, and confusion. It is curious
to watch the manner in which this is kept up over
every article purchased, until the last warning
whistle drives the crowds ashore.

The shrewdness of the women is observed to best
advantage upon these boats where hundreds of them
pass most of their lives selling their wares. They
are more than a match for any of the men-folks, and
woe be to the thief who hopes to profit by the con-
fusion. He will not get far away if he gets even a
start, which is doubtful.

It is reported that foreigners who have formed re-
lations with the women of Burma have found them
very faithful in all respects, but they are vengeful
and unforgiving, and rumour hath it that several
English brides who have come out here have been
done away with through the medium of powdered
glass or drugs. An order was lately issued to the
men in the Civil Service that they must end all re-
lations with these women, but several preferred to
marry them, and did so. One man living in the
outer wilderness could procure no minister or magis-

Burmese Customs 87

trate to perform the ceremony for him, nor could
he obtain leave of absence in order to go to some
town. Therefore being a magistrate himself he
promptly tied the knot between himself and the
dame. This was held by the local authorities to
be illegal, but he carried his case to Parliament,
and coming off triumphant, now lives in tropical
bliss, with elephants, tigers, and snakes as his near-
est neighbours.

The natives are a kindly people and their religion
teaches them to be so. It is considered most merit-
orious to save animal life. One of our passengers,
having caught two large catfish which no one would
eat, was asked by a Burmese if they could be
bought, and they were sold to him for something
like fifty cents, their purchaser immediately restor-
ing them to their native element. When a poor
native will spend what to him is a large sum for
such a purpose it means much.

On a bamboo raft close by, a lot of boys are sport-
ing and working, and like boys of other countries
there is more sport than work on hand just at pre-
sent. A stranger at first glance will pay no atten-
tion to them, as there seems nothing worthy of
remark, but a second glance is followed by a third,
and then the field-glass comes into requisition for a
closer inspection. The boys appear to be naked,
save for a pair of grey knickerbockers or knee-
breeches, but the knickerbockers prove to be, in
reality, a mass of tattooing.

In Japan, tattooing is considered now as an orna-
ment, but with the Burmese boy it is held to be
quite as necessary as his monastic instructions, and

88 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

without it he does not consider that he has attained
full manhood, and one who omits the operation is
looked upon as almost unsexed and altogether be-
neath contempt. Therefore every boy undergoes
the painful operation, which, when completed, puts
him in possession of a mass of dark blue traceries
extending from the waist-line to below the knee
cap. If you are desirous of being so adorned the
artist will come to you with his tools and patterns
from which you make a selection. The figures of
cats, tigers, and elephants, and also many mythologi-
cal designs, are used, and each is surrounded by an
oval frame of tracing, and sometimes by a variety of
alphabetical letters. These designs are artistically
traced upon the person and the interspaces filled by
a delicate lace-like tracery. The waist and knee-
lines are distinctly marked and have the appearance
of girdle and garter. Often the most important
designs are done in scarlet, which when the opera-
tion is finished stand forth in a startling fashion
upon the dark blue background of the rest of the
work.

The operation is painful, and can only be done by
degrees, opium being often used upon the subject
to deaden the pain. The blue dye comes from
lampblack and never disappears, but the red fades
gradually. The " drug of tenderness is a mixture
of vermilion with a variety of herbs and other
things, one of these ingredients being the bruised
and dried skin of the spotted lizard, the mascot of
the Burmese home. Superstition states that a tattoo
of this magic fluid will enable a youth to gain the
maiden of his choice, and it is always placed in a

TATOOED BOY.

Burmese Customs 89

small design between the eyes. This is the only
form of tattooing ever used by women, but they
place it where it cannot be seen. ' Yoe " tells us
that in Rangoon the tattooing of a woman means
that she desires an Englishman for a husband, and
then he adds " poor thing."

The legends and superstitions connected with this
tattooing are without number, running from the
commonplace to the most weird and fantastic.
The " a-kyan say " is the most gruesome of the list,
and few tattooers " are acquainted with the neces-
sary drugs and incantations." Great courage is
necessary, and many men have lost their minds
while undergoing the operation, and have taken to
graveyard wanderings and digging for human bones.
" Yoe " states that this is not to be wondered at, as,
during the operation, the tattooers make them chew
the raw flesh of a man who has been hanged. The
charm seems to be produced by the use of singular
drugs and weird incantations. The results are
various: sometimes a man becomes possessed of
marvellous strength ; sometimes he can walk on the
water or sink into the ground ; often he becomes
a dacoit and is restored to his right mind only by
sacred drugs and by the removal of the fatal figure.
Many believe that certain figures will prevent drown-
ing. This experiment was tried in Rangoon, where
a boy that had been so tattooed requested to be tied
hand and foot and thrown into the river, fully be-
lieving that he would be saved from the swift cur-
rent. But the Irrawaddy, so near its union with
the ocean, carried him away forever. No such
tragedy will occur amongst those boys yonder, for

90 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

they cling tightly to the raft as it rises and falls on
the waves made by the wheels of our departing
steamboat. A bend in the shore shuts them and the
gay crowd on the banks from view, and Mandalay
vanishes from my sight.

CHAPTER XI

ANCIENT PAGAHN

Pagodas Crowd the Banks of the Irrawaddy — Meaning of the Word
"Pagoda" — The " Kyaik-htee-yoh " — Its Fantastic Position
and Legends — Pagahn — A City Dead Seven Hundred Years —
Its Foundations — Destruction — Countless Pagodas — Present
State — The Anada Pagoda — The Majestic Appearance of the
Buddha — The Solemn Expression of its Face and the Meaning
thereof — " A Face from out Nirvana, where no Fear is " — Size
of the Anada — Its Four Sanctuaries — Pagoda Slaves, their
Service and Outcast Position — Tradition of their Origin —
Treachery of Pagahn's King — Petty State of the Slaves — The
Vision of Vanishing Pagahn — The Silence of the River.

MANDALAY is the heart of Burma. On its
outskirts stood the old capital of Amarapura,
to-day but a mass of pagodas, and as the traveller ap-
proaches the point where the river is crossed by the
railroad ferry the prospect becomes fairly bewilder-
ing. On every hilltop, in every gully, in all the val-
leys, and down even into the waters of the river, stand
the sacred structures, a vast city of them. An illus-
tration of Mandalay, in the London News of Novem-
ber 26th, gives a view of the "four hundred and fifty
pagodas surrounding the ' Aracan,' " whereas the
Aracan Pagoda, which is the great shrine of Man-
dalay, is some miles away from the " four hundred

91

92 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

and fifty " on the other side of the town. I have
not described the Aracan for the reason that it has
been partly destroyed by fire and is in a state of
great confusion, and because a description of too
many pagodas becomes wearisome, and we have yet
to visit many, including that marvel of the world,
the " Shway Dagohn " at Rangoon.

The word " Buddha" signifies " enlightened,"
while the word "pagoda" means "relic shrine," and
should only be used for such buildings as contain
some relic of Buddha. Here again is a resemblance
between the treasure chambers of a pagoda and the
corner-stone of a Christian church : the one holds its
relics and jewels, the other its books and records.

Buddha left no instructions in regard to pagodas,
but desired that a small mound, steep like a heap of
rice, should be raised over his bones. The original
shrines which held the relics were shaped like the
lotus bulb, and the present bell-shaped structure
seems an elaboration of this. The Buddha in the
womb of Queen Maia resembled a lotus bulb.

A source of great surprise to the traveller is the
marvellous and apparently inaccessible position in
which some of these pagodas are placed ; and quite
the most remarkable in this respect is that of
" Kyaik - htee - yoh " in the Moulmein district.
Upon the summit of a hill thirty-five hundred feet
high, and upon the very apex of a balancing boulder,
which in turn rests upon a projecting rock, is perched
this small pagoda. The chasm which separates the
peak from the nearest hill is said to reach far below
the surface of the earth. The boulder appears to
rock with every passing wind, and one cannot but

Ancient Pagahn 93

wonder why it does not disappear, pagoda and all,
into the gulf surrounding it. During the winter
months the people come in crowds to this shrine,
and, after casting jewels and money into the chasm,
clamber up to the rocks and decorate the pagoda
with flowers and candles. The little structure has
been there longer than history can tell. Some give
its age as more than five thousand years. The
faithful will tell you that this boulder is kept in
place by a hair of the great Buddha, given to a
hermit by the saint himself on " his return from the
second heaven of the ' Nat-dewah's,' where he had
been proclaiming the law to his mother." Near
this pagoda is a spring, which ceases to flow if evil
talk is indulged in, or if the sexes are not separated.

The shrines and pagodas of the Irrawaddy multi-
ply more and more as we proceed southward, until it
is almost impossible to believe that no life exists
amidst what appears to be a vast city. But, listen
as you will, the silence is unbroken save by the
splash of the boat's paddles and the murmur of
the river. The scene is dreamlike, and the heart
of dreamland is reached as we near the long-dead
city of Pagahn.

The ancient name of Burma was " Mien " and
Pagahn was its capital. Marco Polo was dead in
!325» y£t what he describes of the city was very
ancient at that period. It was in the year of Christ
1272 that the army of the Great Khan came down
upon Pagahn, and the Prince of " Mien " went
forth to give him battle. In the midst of the latter's
army stalked two thousand elephants, each carrying
its tower of timbers. There were sixteen armed

94 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

warriors in every tower. Of horsemen and foot-
soldiers there were sixty thousand. With this
mighty host he moved forward to where the captain
of the Tartar army awaited him. But the " battle
is not to the strong alone. ' ' The forces of the Khan
amounted to but twelve thousand well-mounted
men. At first, their horses took such fright at the
sight of the elephants and their wonderful burdens
that the riders could not control them, and they
turned and fled, but the commander ordered his
men to dismount and tie the animals to trees. The
riders were thus enabled to use their bows and
arrows to such good effect that the elephants of the
pagan host, maddened by the shafts, fled in the
wildest terror, trampling hundreds of that army to
death, and sweeping off the towers on their own
backs against the trees. So great was the press of
fleeing men and beasts that numbers of the former
were suffocated, and the din of battle was as the
thunder. The rout was complete and the conqueror
swept on towards Pagahn.

The vision presented by the capital was wonderful
to their eyes. From the midst of the vast city,
with its countless houses, endless avenues of shrines,
stately temples, and majestic statues of Buddha,
rose two vast towers, which Marco Polo describes as
being, " the one of gold, the other of silver, the
precious metals being laid upon the stone, of which
the towers were built, to the depth of a finger."
Each tower was " ten paces in height, and of breadth
in proportion," the upper parts were " round, and
girt with gold and silver bells, which tinkled as the
wind blew. ' ' There was a tomb between the towers

Ancient Pagahn 95

plated with gold and silver. These towers and the
tomb were erected by a former king to commemo-
rate his own magnificence and for the good of his
soul. " They form one of the sights of the world,
and shine forth resplendent, as the sun's rays strike
them." The tales of all their glory being carried
to the court of the Great Khan, he commanded that
they be left untouched, as " no Tartar will lay hands
on anything appertaining to the dead." History is
silent as to when they were finally destroyed, or by
whom. Probably the hand of unmolested time has
been the culprit, but we may behold the equal of
either, if not their superior, in the Great Pagoda of
Rangoon.

It is seven hundred years since Pagahn ceased to
live. Very long and valiant was its defence. Six
thousand temples were pulled down to build its
forts, but without avail. The city fell and remains
a ruin, silent and deserted to this day. The found-
ation of Pagahn is placed by some as long ago as
A.D. 52, when the people from Prome, far down the
river, came and settled here, and the religion of
Buddha lived and flourished. Pagahn was the
centre of the busy life of ancient Burma until the
day when the hordes of China descended the river
and swept it out of existence.

Travellers to-day will land at a small place up the
river, and must be prepared to take care of them-
selves, for strangers are not provided for in any way
in this city of the dead, which stretches eight miles
along the river, and four miles inland. Save for the
few wretched huts of the people who care for the
more sacred shrines, there is no sign of life amid all

96 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

this chaos and ruin. An ancient gateway receives
us in melancholy fashion ; there are no guards, no
banners, no sound save the slight rustle of a snake
disturbed in its noonday slumbers. Passing onward,
the appalling desolation of the old city comes fully
into view, as avenue after avenue stretches away on
either side, and the long vista in front shows nothing
save ruins. The hand of the passing centuries has
fallen heavily upon Pagahn, sparing nothing save a
few temples that the pious have kept in repair,
and foremost among these is the great shrine, the
Anada Pagoda, which rises more like a Christian
cathedral than a Buddhist temple.

Two gigantic leogryphs guard the approach to the
arched entrance, and one passes under the solemn
arches and through the welcome shadows of the old
temple, and, in passing, notes the many cross walks
and intersecting courts, but is attracted to the centre
of the structure, where, by some arrangements of
the lights from far above, the great god stands forth
and seems to beckon the pilgrim even as he enters
the first portal ; as he approaches the sanctuary he
will fall upon his knees if he be of the faith, and if
a Christian, his hat will come off his head in very
reverence for this majesty before him. All is in
shadow, save the Buddha himself, upon whom de-
scends the glory of light.

Unlike most other statues of the god, this is
standing and is some forty feet in height. One
hand is extended as though in invitation or bene-
diction ; the face is solemn, grave, and peaceful, a
face from out Nirvana, where no fear is entertained
of further weary and endless reincarnations, while

Ancient Pagahn 97

upon it rests the calm, eternal, sleep-like smile.
Here one seems to understand the expression of all
those faces which have puzzled one for so long. It
means the attainment of Nirvana, the end of the
cycles of transincorporation of souls, the death of all
human passions and feeling; means that the hopes
and fears of life no longer have part or place ; means
peace, after all. Is not that a more correct or ac-
ceptable idea than many that are set forth in our
churches, which give no idea of rest or peace ? and
what can heaven be without those attributes ?

The solemn silence that hangs over this spot, the
absence of human life and sound, adds wonderfully
to the impressiveness of this great shrine of Pagahn,
and it is with difficulty that one can turn from it
for a closer inspection of the temple itself. The
Anada, nearly three hundred feet in length and
breadth, is in plan a large square with four project-
ing sections, and the whole, save at the very centre,
is intersected by numerous corridors and passages
which cross each other at right angles. There are
four main entrances which proceed straight to four
shrines, situated on each side of the inner square.
This square is nearly a solid block, supporting the
great spire or dome, and the sanctuaries are niches
in each side, wherein stands in each one a colossal
statue such as I have described. They are of the
four great Buddhas of this world cycle. In the east
" Kauk-Kathan," the first lawgiver, made of the
dan-ta-goo tree; " Gawnagohng " in the southern
chamber is of jasmine wood ; Kathapa in the
western niche is of brass; while the Gautama
Buddha in the northern is of fir, and is the one I

7

98 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

have described. They have all been covered with
plaster, and all are gilded, but their age is unknown,
though it is very great.

There are other sacred shrines in Pagahn, but the
one of Anada is the most sacred and the most in-
teresting, so I shall not describe any of the others.

But let us mount and gaze outward on the city
itself. What a picture of silence, desolation, and
decay! What a mass of ruins the 9999 pagodas
present! Verily it was a sacred city, for, to-day,
save a fragment of the fort, a gate, and a bit of
wall, nothing remains except these sacred structures,
the number of which in Pagahn, even in her ruin,
makes the eye tired, the brain weary, and the heart
sad.

These Buddhists lay no claim for a divine origin
for Buddha. They praise and strive to emulate him
as a perfect man, but as a man, not a god, and as
one that has ceased to exist, and possesses now no
power of any sort. The idolatry among them is
only with the very ignorant. The images of Buddha
simply represent an idea. But one can easily under-
stand how these simple-minded people can actually
bow down and worship yonder stately Buddha,
whose majestic, awe-inspiring face is even now
illumined with the glory of the sun.

A remarkable statue of Buddha is to be found in
a pagoda near the foot of Mandalay Hill — remark-
able from its size, and because it is a monolith. It
is in the usual sitting posture and is twenty-five feet
high, and of course its weight is enormous. In the
olden days a great ruby gleamed from its marble
forehead. In the large enclosure around it are rows

Ancient Pagahn 99

4

of small shrines, each holding its sitting Buddha and
all facing the central shrine. If the Buddha is made
of brass, the casting of the figure is the occasion of
a great festival. When completed it is carried in
procession, attended by music and dancing, to the
shrine prepared for its reception. The highest in
the land assist at these functions and consider them-
selves honoured in so doing; but if honoured at
their creation, little reverence is shown to-day, save
with few exceptions, to the thousands of sad-eyed
Buddhas that gaze outward from the ruined fanes of
Pagahn.

Before the British took possession of Burma each
pagoda had its slaves, — those who kept it clean, —
and they were slaves in every sense of the word.
No human power could free them, and throughout
all time they and their descendants must so remain
until the cycle of Gautama's religion shall have
passed away. They were outcasts and despised by
all, nor could they be employed in any other ca-
pacity than the one mentioned. Upon being freed
they were obliged to disguise their identity and
hide their past before any work could be procured.
Why it should be so has not been explained. This
service was not disgusting, nor any more degrading
than that of a sexton in England, yet they were out-
casts like the mummifiers in Egypt, and disputed
their food with the pariah dogs and crows, quarrel-
ling and fighting over the rice offered up at the
shrine. The vendors of flowers and candles are all
of this class. Here in Pagahn they are thicker than
elsewhere and assume a royal dignity like the beg-
gars in " Notre Dame." They have a king, who

ioo Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

goes forth under a golden umbrella, but from whom
the lowest in Burma would shrink with loathing.

Tradition states that this strange sect had its
origin centuries ago when a king of Pagahn, suspect-
ing the loyalty of a tributary sovereign, " invited
him to the great and noble city with its towers of
gold and silver, of which Marco Polo writes. " The
monarch came without fear and but scantily at-
tended. Then, during a great feast, when all were
assembled at the pagoda of Shway-zee-gohn, he was
seized by the hair and a sword waved over his head,
thus dedicating him and all his followers and their
descendants throughout all time to the service of the
great shrine. Hence this petty state before us, all
the semblance of royal life in Pagahn to-day. Why
they continue to exist is a marvel, but they do, and
increase and multiply, marrying amongst themselves.

The Irrawaddy widens into a lake below Pagahn,
and as we pass to the lower -bank the ancient city
takes on an unearthly beauty. Towers and temples
are once more of gold and silver. White pagodas,
forts, walls, minarets, and palm trees float mirage-
like, until one wonders if that is not the vision which
has tormented so many weary pilgrims in far-off
deserts. Now it is illumined with a pale pink glow,
and, like the city of Aladdin, has separated from
the earth and is floating outward and upward until it
gradually fades and fades and disappears, leaving
nothing save the lake-like glimmering river below,
while above one great sparkling planet hangs in the
high heavens against the dark blue sky into which
Pagahn has vanished forever. Then the murmuring
river carries us onward into the silence of the night.

CHAPTER XII

RANGOON

The " Shway Dagohn Payah" — First Appearance from the Sea — Its
Fascination for the Traveller — Its Age and Unaltered State —
Regilding and the Cost — The Sacred Stairs and the Dwellers
thereon — The Marvellous Appearance of the Great Platform —
Majestic Appearance of the Great Pagoda — Its Jewelled Um-
brella and Golden Bells — Lilies and Lotus — The Legend of the
Scarlet Canna — Last Appearance of the Sacred Stairs and
Grinning Leogryphs.

ON the last spur of the Pegu Hills, advancing
far out into the valley of Rangoon, stands the
" Shway Dagohn Payah," the most sacred and most
remarkable shrine in all the Buddhist world — sacred
because it is the only " Payah " known to the Bud-
dhists which contains not only the sacred hair of Shin
Gautama, but relics (a drinking-cup, a robe, and a
staff) of the three Buddhas who preceded him.
Therefore to this spot come countless pilgrims from
every quarter of the world to which this faith has
penetrated. The hill upon which the structure
stands has been cut into two rectangular terraces
which rise to a height of one hundred and sixty-six
feet above the level of Rangoon, the upper terraces
forming a square seven hundred by nine hundred
feet, and from this for three hundred and seventy

101

102 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

feet soars the great golden bell, so that its summit
reaches a height, above the city, almost equal to
that of the Washington Monument.

To the traveller approaching from the sea the
pagoda is a vision of dazzling brilliancy and is
visible long before the low-lying shores and distant
mountains have evolved themselves from the waste
of waters. If the approach is in the early morning
when the sun has not yet risen his eyes will gaze
into a misty void, grey and colourless, but with the
first rays of approaching light a vision as of some-
thing celestial will be sharply silhouetted against
the darkness, something which has fallen from the
walls of heaven, and now floats a golden glory for
the delight and astonishment of man. As the light
increases this brilliancy becomes almost too dazzling
for mortals to gaze upon. Finally the mists grow
thinner and thinner, and then sail away, leaving the
structure resting upon a mound of delicate green
that rolls downward and away across the valley
where stands the city of Rangoon, and where the
Irrawaddy forces its way to the ocean.

The traveller will find that the fascination of this
first glimpse has been so great, and has so aroused
his curiosity, that he will pass the city by unnoticed
and press onward eagerly for a closer inspection of
the shrine. Of its age there is no authentic record.
Buddhists place the date of its erection 588 B.C.,
but " Yoe " thinks the site must have been sacred for
cycles before that, as the relics of the three preced-
ing Buddhas were found interred on the spot ; at
least we have the certainty that we see it now sub-
stantially as it stood five hundred years before our

ENTRANCE TO SHWAY DAQOHN PA&ODA, RANGOON.

Rangoon 103

religion came into existence. It is so sacred that it
is kept in perfect condition, and twice within the
last century it has been completely regilded. Sin-
byoo Shin, a king who lived one hundred years ago,
spent ,£9000 in the work, and this was repeated by
King Mindohn in 1871.

As the traveller approaches the hill he will be
confronted by two colossal leogryphs in stone and
plaster, strangely grinning beasts that guard nearly
all these great pagodas. There is a legend con-
nected with these grotesque figures, a pathetic and
touching story, which goes to show that in all re-
ligions, amidst all peoples, a mother and a mother's
love are reverenced as scarcely less than divine.

These leogryphs represent a lion which in the
old days, rescued and suckled a king's son who had
been abandoned. Upon reaching manhood he fled
from his strange mother and swam a river to escape
her. Upon his desertion her heart broke and she
died, and so in memory of her devotion and love
these figures guard the entrance to all that is most
holy amongst the Buddhists.

Behind the leogryphs rises an elaborate arch in
stone, the entrance to a holy staircase leading direct
to the great platform of the pagoda, far above on
its terrace. This staircase, covered its entire length
by an arching roof, is ornamented every here and
there with carvings which would do justice to Gib-
bons. Its shallow steps force one to ascend slowly,
and they are so slippery that one is tempted for
safety's sake to assume the devotional attitude in-
cumbent upon the devotees at the " Scala Santa "
in Rome.

104 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

On either side the people display their wares,
which are mostly such as may be offered up at some
shrine in the temple. Each sets forth the caste and
nationality of the owner. Here are Chinese toys
and coloured tapers of strange shapes.

Each day has an animal as a symbol, and these
red and yellow wax candles are modelled thereafter,
and then offered at the shrines. Monday has a
tiger, Tuesday a lion, Wednesday an elephant,
Thursday a rat, Friday a guinea-pig, Saturday a
dragon, and Sunday a half-beast, half-bird, which
is supposed to guard the centre of the universe.
Yonder is the silk of the Burmese, and everywhere
are paper banners. But most of all one sees those
yellow and red lilies so loved of the Buddha, and
there are also great trays of purple and pink lotus
blossoms.

As the summit is reached, and one steps on to the
great platform of the pagoda, one must be dumb in-
deed not to be struck with amazement at the sight
presented. Imagine a vast enclosure, adorned by
stately trees, and surrounded by a wall, breast high,
beyond which one catches glimpses of misty plains,
distant mountains, and sparkling ocean. Countless
shrines of all sizes and descriptions stand in regular
aisles around the enclosure. Under the canopy of
each sits a figure of Buddha, and sometimes a whole
court of Buddhas, some of gold, many of stone, old
and grey, while others are of carved wood. Each
and all, however, keep their distance, allowing a
broad sweep of empty promenade between their
lesser splendour and the glory of the great pagoda,
which from the centre of the plaza soars high aloft,

THE "SHWAY DAQOHN," RANGOON.

Rangoon 105

higher than the dome of St. Paul's, a mass of glitter-
ing gold, made more brilliant, more magnificent, by
the light of the setting sun. Its base is a square
with receding terraces, while its graceful bell-shaped
lines ascend until they terminate in a sacred " T,"
or umbrella, whose surface is encrusted with jewels,
and from whose lace-like fringe many tinkling bells
send down sweet music with each passing breeze.

In the centre of each side of the base of the
pagoda stands an elaborate pavilion of teak-wood,
its columns encrusted with coloured glass, while
every gable, angle, and corner is rich with deli-
cate wood-carvings, black with age. The usual
flaring dragons' tails deck the summit of the re-
ceding stories of these pavilions, and under them
sit the most sacred Buddhas, before which crouch
murmuring groups of priests, robed in yellow.
Countless tapers gleam in the inner shadows, yellow
and red flowers are cast broadcast at the feet of the
saint, and the faint scent of the lotus pervades the
air. Around the first terrace of the great pagoda
are rows of squatting stone elephants, and vases
used to receive the offerings of the people, while on
the top of this terrace stands a row of small pago-
das, but above them nothing mars the upward-
sweeping lines of the great structure, glistening
against a fair blue sky.

The effect is most majestic and imposing. It is
said that the jewels flashing on the umbrella repre-
sent a sum of ;£ 50,000 sterling, all voluntary sub-
scriptions from these simple-looking people, headed
by their king. Many of the smaller pagodas are
the same shape as the great one, many are Chinese

io6 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

in design, but each and all keep their distance from
the central structure, and all the worshippers in all
the shrines face its glittering surface.

In one pagoda near me kneels a picturesque group
of priests, clothed in yellow silk, and holding aloft
bunches of red and yellow lilies, while they keep up
a monotonous chant to the music of a sweet-sound-
ing gong. Here and there stand tall poles which
bear on high winged figures, and whose bases are
guarded by grotesque figures of men and animals.

One of the side temples holds no less than seven-
teen figures of Buddha, some colossal, some small,
all seated in the unvarying fashion always found in
Burma — cross-legged, with the soles of the feet
turned upward, the palm of one hand in a like posi-
tion, while the other hand hangs over the knee.
The garments of the figures are gilded, but the flesh
is white, and each wears a sacred cap.

In the centre of this shrine, under a glass case, is
a life-size, reclining figure in alabaster of Buddha
in the position in which he died. It is adorned with
many fine gems in cap and girdle, and rests on a
golden couch, while before it quantities of lilies and
purple lotus have been scattered by the faithful.

But the favourite flower is the scarlet canna, so
common at home, which these people believe to
have sprung from the blood of Buddha when his
brother-in-law attempted to destroy him by means
of a huge rolling stone. The boulder burst, and a
fragment only touched the toe of Shin Gautama,
drawing a few drops of blood, from whence sprang
the scarlet flower.

This great shrine at Rangoon is not the work of a

Rangoon 107

day, but, as each month passes, some pagoda is
added, and this will be done until there is room for
no more — a date not far distant.

But the shadows lengthen and the faithful have
departed, leaving me alone but for the yellow-robed
figure of one priest boy, who kneels close by me,
holding between his clasped hands a crimson lily,
while his murmured incantations mingle with the
music of countless wind-swept bells.

The holy staircase is deep in shadows, save where
the sunlight illumines the dying flowers. I pass
downward over heaps of the lotus, and my hands
are crimson from the lilies which I gather. There
is no soul visible in all the darkening vista but some
few blind beggars whose sun set long ago. How
pure Buddha intended his faith to be! How far
from pure it is to-day! How are his people fallen!
The leogryphs at the entrance of his greatest shrine
seem to smile at the sarcasm of destiny as the sun
goes down.

CHAPTER XIII

EN ROUTE TO MANILA

Departure from Rangoon — News of the German Emperor — French,
Germans, and English in the East — Feelings of an American on
their Ships — Actions of the Germans there — Their Relations to
America and their Sympathy for Spain — German Designs on
Manila — General Lack of a Proper Understanding as to the
Cause of our " Little War" — Spain's Refusal to Clean Havana
— Position of our Government as Regards the Maine — The
Cubans and Mexicans — Effect of our " Little War" — Union of
our People — Position of England — Intelligent Understanding
of our "Jingoes " — Our Histories — Our Congressmen — Wars of
a Century ago Relegated to their Niche in History — Salute of
our Flag at Manila by the English.

AS we leave Burma word comes that the German
Emperor has had a broad smooth road made
for him to the Garden of Gethsemane. If I remem-
ber aright, both His Royal Highness the Prince of
Wales and General Grant were ushered into Jerusa-
lem by bands of music, but, of all places on earth,
should not that old Judaean fortress, that shrine and
that tomb, be the spots where all remembrance of
human greatness should shrink away and be as no-
thing ? Surely to have a smooth road made for any
mortal to the Garden of Gethsemane is almost a
sacrilege — -to that spot, of all others, let mortal man

108

ENSHRINED QAUTAMAS SURROUNDING THE SHWAY DAGOHN PAGODA, RANGOON.

En Route to Manila 109

approach on bended knee, and in the silence of the
night, for those old, gnarled olive trees that wit-
nessed the Passion of Jesus of Nazareth are full of
His presence to this day, and the heart must be hard
indeed that does not desire to " go apart and pray
yet a little while."

News comes also of the fall of Khartoum and the
avenging of Gordon. Again the nineteenth century
has triumphed over the eighth, and with the passing
of the power of Spain and that of the Mahdi, the
Dark Ages recede more and more into the back-
ground of history.

The face of the Sirdar is strong and most interest-
ing to contemplate. He has written a page of the
world's story. This conflict in the Soudan will be
followed by the building of the railroad from the
Cape to Cairo, and where the railway enters progress
and civilisation attain a sure footing. The fall of
Khartoum and the fall of Manila will afford the
world an opportunity of passing sentence upon the
difference in the recognition of service accorded by
a monarchy and a republic.

In this journey toward Manila we have travelled
on German, French, and English ships. The
Frenchmen have always been courteous and polite.
If they object, which should not surprise us, to our
conquest over their cousins of the Latin race they
do not show it, yet they have vast commercial con-
nections and strong blood ties with Spain, and they
are of the same religion. The same holds true with
Italy and Austria. We have felt at home on the
English ships — no more need be said. But on the
German ships and with the German merchants, from

no Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

first to last, there has been an aggressive, hostile
feeling — and why ? Certainly nothing in the past
century has more surprised and wounded the feel-
ings of America than the knowledge of this feeling.
Our sympathies were strongly with Germany in the
Franco-Prussian war. That nation has the closest
blood ties with quite one-third of our millions of
people; her trade interests with us are enormous;
her freedom of religion is the same ; and she claims to
have all the advanced ideas, manners, and customs
of the Anglo-Saxon. Yet out here she has shown
and is still showing the strongest sympathy with
the old rotten monarchy of Spain, a nation with
whose people she holds not one thing in common.
The Germans may deny that they have any " hos-
tile feeling" against us, yet the fact remains that
wherever they are met with on this side of the
world they are most bitter. (I regret to make this
statement, as my blood is strongly German.) After
giving utterance to such bitterness, they will turn
and recount incidents of Spanish vileness, dirt, filth,
robbery, outrage, and murder, and, when asked
how they can have any sympathy with such a
people, they cannot answer.

It is impossible to believe that any German, from
the Emperor down, can really desire to alienate his
nation from America, but these actions in the East
have certainly done the Fatherland an injury, for I
believe that the millions of Germans in America —
the land that has received and protected them and
their families, where they have made their fortunes
and held their homes in perfect peace and freedom —
would side with the land of their adoption in case

WOOD CARVINGS, SHWAY DAGOHN PAGODA, RANGOON.

En Route to Manila in

of real trouble. That the Germans care for Span-
iards as Spaniards one cannot for an instant imagine,
but that they wanted those islands for themselves
would appear to be beyond a doubt. Whether they
intended to appropriate or buy them from worn-out,
bankrupt Spain they alone know, but they fully
intended to obtain them. How great was their
rage, therefore, to have the entire plan thwarted by
America in one single May morning! Had Admiral
Von Diederichs succeeded in his attempt at that
time, his Government would not have disowned his
actions. " Nothing succeeds like success! "

There seems to be a strange lack of knowledge
even among some of the English out here as to the
true cause of our late war. They appear to know
of none save the destruction of the Maine. All the
years of irritation since the Virginius affair one
would judge are forgotten. The constant petty in-
sults, the awful loss of life by yellow fever year after
year through the existence of that cesspool — 'Havana
— just at our door, the millions of money spent in
quarantine because Spain refused to take any sani-
tary measures whereby thousands of lives in our land
might have been saved, * the horrible murders, rob-
beries, and outrages in these islands, not only upon
the Cubans, but upon many of our own people — all
seem forgotten, only the wholesale slaughter of our
men on the Maine being remembered. It is not to
be supposed that the Spanish Government was
directly concerned in that destruction, but she knew
the dangers of the buoy at which she. deliberately
placed our ship, — an action which was thoroughly

* Under our rule July 1st finds no yellow fever in Havana.

ii2 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

Spanish, — therefore she was in every way responsible
for what occurred. She had nothing to gain by the
destruction of the Maine, and everything to lose.
That she was betrayed — as she has been so many
times, as Ireland and Poland always were — by some
of her subjects, for personal spite, or by sale to the
Cubans, is very probable. The Cubans would have
moved heaven and earth to accomplish such a dis-
aster, and the destruction of hundreds of our men
would not have deterred them for an instant. They
are half-breeds, and possess all the vices of the
mother-country, and none of her virtues.

A like population exists in Mexico, where nothing
but the strong hand of Dictator Diaz has redeemed
that land from the reign of murder and robbery
which prevailed when I first visited it in 1879, when
it was not safe to walk the streets of the City of
Mexico in the early twilight. Neither could one
walk alone in the morning down her Paseo to
Chapultepec. Even as late as 1888, trains from
the north were fired into as they passed along.
Diaz's orders were " prompt execution if caught,"
and many of the miscreants were caught. There,
as in Manila, an ignorant, grasping priesthood was
largely responsible for such a state of affairs. The
priests knew that with the advent of enlightenment
from the north their power would end, and it has
ended. However, it may be that a Higher Power
has directed this so-called " little war." It may be
that an end of the old Spanish Empire was intended,
and that to the young Republic was allotted the
task. At all events, the " little war " has been pro-
ductive of great results. It has shown to the world

En Route to Manila 113

what Europe did not believe — the perfect union of
our people. Our family quarrel was our own quar-
rel, and when a foreign foe came up our boys
promptly marched from all sections of the land, and,
standing shoulder to shoulder, went forth to meet
its foes as they will ever go. There was no North,
South, East, or West, but all were as one, and had
the President required millions of men he would
have had no difficulty in securing them.

The second great achievement was the showing
to the world, and to our " jingoes " at home, the
true sentiments of Great Britain. To the thinker
or the traveller these sentiments have of late years
been very evident, but our land is full of men who
never travel — many of whom have been sent to
Congress. There they have not hesitated to blare
forth their supposed knowledge of the present con-
ditions of the nations of the earth, especially of
England, all of which knowledge has been learned
from our school histories, books which had better
be promptly remodelled and brought up to date,
especially the histories studied years since by the
men now in Congress, and which deal almost en-
tirely with the old wars of a century ago and more.
Year after year Concord has been fought again,
Ticonderoga taken, Yorktown reviewed. All the
time has been spent in this schoolboy gloating over
this past — rarely is the present or future studied at
all. There should be a law in America making
travel and a proper appreciation of the world and
its people requisites for election to offices where
such appreciation and knowledge are absolutely ne-
cessary. If any man with such knowledge will go to

ii4 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

the halls of Congress, he will come away scarcely
proud of many of the members of that body. Our
history is a glorious one, and all Americans are,
justly, proud of it; but give it its niche in the past,
study it forever, but also know the present, and live
in the age in which you are born. Of the work
Great Britain has done, and is doing the world over,
most Americans have known and cared just nothing
at all, but have lived under the firm conviction that
England, since she lost us, has had her guns ever
trained westward to retake Bunker Hill.

That our occupation of the Philippines has been
greatly to the taste of that empire is very evident.
We are the one nation on the globe that she would
willingly see in possession. It may be claimed that
her actions are all based upon self-interest. True,
very likely, as she is human, and as self-interest has
been at the base of most actions since the days when
the serpent tempted Mother Eve.

When Her Majesty the Queen goes to her rest she
will be sincerely mourned in America. We still re-
member that, when the clouds lowered darkest in
our own land, the Queen and the late Prince Con-
sort were ever our friends, and to them alone we
owe a great debt of gratitude for being spared an
awful war with England. The note which Lord
Palmerston prepared for us on the Mason and Slidell
matter was one that no self-respecting nation could
have accepted. It meant war, but fortunately it
passed into the hands of Prince Albert, who re-
modelled its contents, and, when signed by Her
Majesty, it became a missive of peace.

After all, little things make up the sum of this

En Route to Manila 115

life, and when the English fleet, by the notes of the
Star-Spangled Banner, saluted the ships of Admiral
Dewey as they steamed into battle, it knocked on
the hearts of our people. For that action, and for
saluting our flag as it was raised over Manila, the
German Admiral censured the Englishman, telling
him that his Government " would not approve."
How greatly it disapproved is shown by the in-
creased honours bestowed upon him.

At Singapore we find the Raleigh homeward bound
for a deserved rest. I have the pleasure of meeting
her officers upon several occasions, and, for the first
time, hear the true reports concerning the actions of
Admiral Von Diederichs; but the story will un-
doubtedly be told upon the arrival of the Raleigh at
New York, if our Government so desires it. Cer-
tainly it would not be proper to insert it here.

CHAPTER XIV

MANILA

The Stormy China Sea — Communication with the Islands — First
Appearance of the City — Landing — Hotels — A Devotee at the
Shrine of Manana Forced to Deal with a Nation of " To-day"
— The Result — The American Accent and Language in the
Far East — First Walks through the City — The Rush in the
Streets — The Strange Vehicles — The English Hotel — "Car-
men's Inn " — Shadowy Balconies — Richly Carved Beds — Rickety
Furniture — The Ills that the Flesh is Heir to — Electric Lights
— Murat Halstead and the Food in Manila.

WHERE is Manila ? Very few Americans had
given the question sufficient thought to
answer when our guns broke the silence of years
amidst these far-off islands of the Pacific.

Manila is just six hundred and thirty miles be-
yond the worst bit of sea the globe possesses — six
hundred and thirty miles south-east from Hong
Kong. To reach it one must take a small ship,
wretchedly uncomfortable, that the waters will pitch
and toss about until life seems scarce worth the
living even to those who are not seasick. This
China Sea is never quiet. From November to
March the north-east monsoon blows the ocean into
quaking, shivering, tossing mountains; from June
to October the south-west monsoon tears these

'116

Manila 1 1 7

mountains into tatters; and in the interim, in
spring and fall, the typhoons prevent any peaceful
moment for this wretched sea. I have traversed all
the waters of the globe, but must bestow the palm
upon this for all that is horrible, not even excepting
that bit of ocean the Tasman Sea — which rolls be-
tween Australia and New Zealand. In time there
will be larger ships placed upon this line, with which,
let us trust, other lines will enter into competition,
but, up to date, the entire transportation business
to the islands has been in the hands of one or two
companies that have paid no attention to the pass-
enger department. However, until the famous
battle of the 1st of May, passengers for the Philip-
pines were few in number. Spain did not encourage
the world at large to enter her Eastern possessions,
and if the traveller insisted upon going there his
stay was not made pleasant for him.

For two days and three nights we roll and toss
about, and then the waters quiet somewhat, until
peace, in the shape of the harbour of Manila, re-
lieves us at last. We enter the bay before the dawn
has given light enough to show us where we are.
As it increases, Dewey's fleet and Cavite are dis-
cernible off to the south, while to the westward
distant mountains circling north and south enclose
a wide and fertile valley where stands the city of
Manila. Manila from the sea presents a strong
resemblance to Florence, a likeness which is
strengthened by its many domes and campaniles,
and by its river, but these mountains are more
majestic than those around the " fairest city of the
earth."

n8 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

Old Manila occupies a point on the left bank of
the river and faces the bay. It is a collection of
churches, palaces, and public buildings. Being
doubly walled and doubly moated, and surrounded
by earthen embankments, it is a place most difficult
to capture if properly defended. From the decks
of this ship I can see four great Krupp guns, which
alone could have done good service, but our Ad-
miral's threat, to " bombard the city if they were
used," kept them silent. The modern town
stretches away on either side and completely en-
closes the ancient sections. Viewed from the
water, the whole presents an interesting and impos-
ing panorama, from which the glittering banner of
the American nation, floating from every available
point, in no way detracts.

We are again impressed by the independence of
the steamship line when the question of landing
comes up.

" Captain, how are we to get ashore ? "

" Don't know, my dear sir; the line only con-
tracts to bring you here, not to get you ashore."

" But what are we to do ? "

" I really can't say. There may be some sam-
pans along after a while with which you can make
a bargain."

No sign of such means of landing is in sight, how-
ever, to relieve the minds of the twenty-five pass-
engers. Fortunately, Mr. Wilson of Manila is on
board, and when his steam launch comes down, he
kindly asks all who desire to go back with him ; and
so, landing in this new city of ours, we make our
way, with the assistance of some dozen or more

Manila 119

porters, to the Oriente Hotel. What an establish-
ment! How shiftless and dirty, and how it smells!
The building itself is well enough, being large and
airy, but it is conducted on the Spanish plan of dirt
and sloth, by a manager whose watchword has evi-
dently been manana for all the years of his life.
Now, he is forced to deal with a people who insist
that all things be done, completed, finished, the
day before yesterday. The result to his dead brain
is almost insanity. He looks at us in a dazed man-
ner and moans out that he has no rooms, muttering
constantly the one all-expressive word, Americanos,
Americanos. From behind the long line of lattice
doors, all up and down the hall, come to our ears
words and tones of voices that reduce space to
nothingness, and transport us into our own land
once more. We secure breakfast, or an apology for
one, and in the dining-room entirely forget the fact
that there is little to eat, and that little very dirty,
as we gaze at our countrymen in wonder and listen
to their speech. I have never experienced a more
singular sensation than that produced by the sound
of our American accent in this far-off corner of the
world. These people certainly are of our own land,
and any doubt thereof is promptly dispelled by the
many questions they ask us about " home." As
we answer, I gaze at their fresh, clear, energetic
faces, and then at those of the dark-skinned, lazy
servants and manager, and wonder how the juxtapo-
sition came about. What decree of fate demanded
that our fresh, young nation should come out of the
east and destroy forever the last remnants of the
once great colonial empire of Charles V. ? Yet that

1 20 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

decree has gone forth, and here we are in full pos-
session of ancient Manila.

Breakfast — save the name ! — being disposed of, we
sally forth to look for rooms, but even with that
necessary task on hand, I cannot but pause and gaze
on the scene before me. This is the principal square
of the new city, on one side of which stretches a vast
tobacco warehouse, where excellent cigars can be
bought for a song — $25 in gold per thousand. To
our left rises one of the great churches, and through
its portals, in the shadowy interior, gleam the lights
of many candles, while the fragrance of incense
floats outward toward us over the heads of the bow-
ing worshippers. Beggars crowd the portals, dirt
and dust cover the pavements sacred and profane.
The centre of the square, meant originally to be
ornamental, is wholly neglected, and wretched to
look upon. Through the streets rush all sorts and
conditions of vehicles. I use the word " rush " ad-
visedly, because no one ever drives slowly in Manila,
not even excepting the evening pleasure-seekers in
the Luneta ; all move at a breakneck pace. Even the
tram-cars, drawn by three sturdy little stallions,
speed wildly along, so that it would be impossible
to board them while in motion.

The streets of Manila are crowded throughout the
day until 10 P.M. Travellers generally use a vic-
toria drawn by smart little ponies, the rig costing
four dollars in gold per day. The native cart, the
carromato, is a rough, high-wheeled vehicle on two
wheels, with a square body or platform around which
runs a railing a foot in height ; upon this are placed
the seats — merely loose boards. This cart is hauled

Manila 121

by one horse. There is also a neat carry-all with
two seats, facing each other, which one enters at
the rear, and which somewhat resembles our railway
cabs. There is a third kind of carry-all, called
qu'ilez, which has but one seat close behind the
small perch for the driver. Amidst all the bustle
of the streets I notice but one vehicle that does not
tear along at a breakneck pace, and that is the cart
drawn by native oxen. Fright will sometimes start
these animals, however, and when it does, all else
goes down before them.

We stop at the English Hotel in the Escolta —
Manila's principal street. I secure a front room and
spend much time hanging out of the windows, and,
for the panorama offered therefrom, I forgive the
house many of its shortcomings. It is truly a
Spanish inn, just such as Carmen was wont to meet
her lover in. We almost expect to be hailed by her
from out the shadowy balconies surrounding its
courtyard, which should echo to the sound of the
guitar and the patter of dancing feet rather than to
the clank of American sabres; but at least the sabres
mean protection and not robbery and assassination,
and the " Carmens " are not all in Spain. From
the centre of the court rise some battered old trees
with wide tables built around their roots, while
opening off the wide galleries one finds the dining
and bedrooms. There are not more than a dozen
in all of the latter very unique apartments. There
is never any lock to their doors, mine being pro-
vided, because I insist upon it, with a peg, whereby
I can bar entrance by night. The floors are bare
and very dirty. Clean towels, etc., are unknown,

122 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

and no chair possesses more than three legs. But
one gazes in amazement at the beds. Stately,
carved structures with canopies, some of them
would be ornamental in any house. They have
cane bottoms, across which are stretched fine mats
of Manila straw; these are covered with sheets,
which, with pillows, form the entire equipment.
One never needs any covering, save perhaps a
corner of the sheet.

If you ask for tea in the morning, the article
brought you reduces you to such a state of hopeless
despair that words fail to relieve your feelings, and,
no matter how full your vocabulary might be, the
boy would not understand you. He may bring
you a spoon, but that is rarely done. However, if
the stuff is hot, drink it and be thankful.

The flesh is heir to many ills in the tropics, and
some of the lesser ones attack the stranger at once
and are the hardest to endure. The very clothes
fresh from the laundry are in league against his
peace and quiet. These people never use hot water
in their laundry-work, but generally go to a dirty
stream where a parasite of some sort is soaked into
the garments with the result, to the wearer, that
wherever they chafe the person through perspira-
tion or friction a scarlet rash will appear which
burns intolerably, is most unpleasant, and, unless
attended to, will extend over the entire body.
Chemists tell me that strangers are more liable to
its attack than natives. I should fancy that our
army must surfer greatly from this. It undoubt-
edly comes from using foul water, as a sunny, hot
day will cause your clothing to become so offensive

Manila

123

that it must be removed. But to return to the
house.

As night comes on, I look around for the tallow
dip, by which I had fancied light would be fur-
nished, when I am astonished by a sudden blaze of
electricity, and discover that the whole of the
wretched hostelry, as well as the entire city, is
lighted by the genius of Edison.

As for the meals ! — I do not blame my good friend
and neighbour, Murat Halstead, sick as he was,
from fleeing away in despair. The food is horrible,
but let it pass. Fortunately for me I have little to
do with it, as, having been " put up " at the English
Club at Malate and the Tiffin Club in the city, and
having friends in the army, I am rarely here except
to sleep.

CHAPTER XV

DAILY LIFE IN " BINONDO

Streets of Manila — English Club — Noises and Diseases — A Drive
into the Insurgents' Territory — Aguinaldo's and General Otis's
Proclamations — Reports from Iloilo — Refusal of Press there to
Print the President's Proclamation — Spanish Officers and Sol-
diers— The Former together with the Friars to Blame for Much
of the Present Trouble — An Invitation to a Ball on the " to-be-
Captured '' Olympia — Rumours of an Attack — Closing of the
Shops in the City — A General Call to Arms — Wild Scene in the
Escolta — The Water-Supply and its Exposed Condition — Sam
Paloc and its Desecrated Graves — Attack on one of our Sentries,
and Death of the Tagalos — The i4th Regulars — ' ' Retreat " —
The " Angelus " and the Star- Spangled Banner.

THE streets of Manila are wide for the most part,
its houses are nearly all two-storied and square,
with the second story extending over the sidewalk.
In the resident portions of the town there are hand-
some villas and fine grounds. The English Club, a
pleasant building, and most hospitably open to
strangers who are properly introduced, is beautifully
placed by the sea in Malate, to the south of the old
town. Broad avenues stretch away in all directions,
and every now and then the traveller comes across
an ancient church with its clanging bells. But
Manila cannot compare with the City of Mexico,

124

Daily Life in " Binondo " 125

though it claims almost as many inhabitants — three
hundred and fifty thousand.

Save during the heat of the day, the streets are
crowded with vast concourses of people. The sev-
eral lines of street-cars are always jammed and
are already covered with American advertisements.
Hackney carriages, capable of carrying two people,
have six or eight natives crowded into them. Owing
to the prevalence of small-pox, one avoids these
vehicles and also the street-cars. At certain times
of the day there are not enough of both to carry the
moving population. In our drive of yesterday we
crossed into the insurgents' territory and drove
where we pleased without heed or hindrance; on
the contrary, we were saluted wherever we went,
notwithstanding the fact that Aguinaldo had issued
the previous day his proclamation of " Liberty or
Death."

The proclamation of General Otis with that of the
President was issued first, and it seems to be the
opinion of the English and Americans here that
the Tagalos do not understand it. Some claim
that it is in fact just what they want, while others
hold that nothing short of anarchy and confusion
will satisfy the so-called leaders; but all agree that
they are fools indeed not to accept our terms.
Many fear that Aguinaldo's proclamation means
the beginning of a long guerrilla war, carried on
through mountains and swamps where our men
cannot exist, but where the insurgents can fight
from behind barriers of some sort, and never in
the open ; a war in which we may need at least fifty
thousand troops, as many black ones as possible,

i26 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

for they can better endure the summer heat of
these islands.

To-day's report from Iloilo is to the effect that
no press would print General Otis's proclamation,
and it was perforce done by typewriters and read
aloud, only to be ridiculed by the people, who in
reply told our men to issue all the proclamations
they desired, and do what they desired, but not to
land one soldier or there would be bloodletting.

Bound by instructions from Washington to have
no " bloodshedding " unless actually attacked, our
forces were tied hand and foot, and the people,
knowing nothing of the cause, set down our in-
action to cowardice. At least this proclamation of
Aguinaldo's was attributed directly to our supposed
supineness, or, as they called it, " cowardice," at
Iloilo.

As we drive along we pass numbers of insurgents
all over the city. They are allowed the freedom of
the town until sunset, so long as they go unarmed.
The Spanish officers are all out on parole, but their
soldiers are restricted to the old city, and both
" must be in quarters at eight o'clock." They are
quartered to the number of eight thousand all over
the old town, while the cathedral is but a barracks,
which seems a shame.

It is the general opinion that we owe much of the
present condition of affairs with the revolutionists
to the Spanish officers and priests. The former,
being on parole, spread poison on all sides — ditto
the priests. After all, we must remember that the
ties between the natives and the Spaniards are very
strong — they have the same religion, and there is

Daily Life in " Binondo " 127

much mingling of blood and language. We are
outsiders, and, like the Irishman's wife, they will
turn against us. They have no love for nor belief
in us, and cannot appreciate what we would do for
them.

Just before the battle of May 1st, the Spanish
Admiral appeared one evening on the Escolta. He
was in all the glory of full dress, and proceeded to
harangue the multitudes, assuring them that his
fleet would promptly sink the " tin kettles " of the
Yankees, while he had numberless prisons prepared
in the old fortress for the " American pigs." It is
also said that invitations had been issued to the
" first Spanish families," inviting them to a ball on
the" to-be-captured Olympiad' The Escolta rang
with cheers for old Spain and the brave Admiral.

Rumours of trouble are rife to-day in the Escolta;
many actually believe that the insurgents mean to
attack the city at once, and most of the shops are
closed for fear of looting. It has been a strange
awakening for this sleepy old town, and some of
her people have risen to the occasion and are making
money. Every other shop in this street has been
turned into a beer hall, and all are full of a motley
crowd. Through the door of yonder spacious place,
the " Alhambra," I can see Spaniards, Tagalos,
Chinese, French, and Americans, and our uniforms
are to be seen everywhere.

Some few days after the fall of the city, a Spanish
paper printed a view of the appearance of the Escolta
under Yankee rule. All down each side of its nar-
row, crooked way could be seen over almost every
door " Bar," " Bar," " Bar." It is not much bet-

128 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

ter now, but the regulations are better, and these
places are closed at 10 P.M. and on Sundays.

There are some hundreds of our men in yonder
Alhambra, and even as I write come the notes of a
general alarm. At its summons a rush for the street
ensues, which completely wrecks the establishment,
while the passage of our men up the Escolta causes
the natives the greatest terror, and their puny
figures flee in all directions before the onward rush
of our giants. The city has become a scene of the
wildest confusion, and much of it, as I watch from
my window on the Escolta, is very amusing.

The entire life of the streets rushes in one direc-
tion, while that of the pavements takes the other,
especially the Spanish officers, who make a desperate
attempt to get into the old walled town, well know-
ing what their fate will be if the Tagalos obtain the
upper hand. They are, however, all stopped by the
sentries at the Spanish Bridge, and I can plainly see
their wild gesticulations and arguments, all of which
produces no effect on the crossed bayonets of our
men. In the midst of the confusion a lot of Chinese,
with their dancing-master steps and bland smiles,
come sailing around a corner, each bearing burdens
at either end of long poles over their shoulders.
They go down bag and baggage like a pack of cards,
and are blown away like the leaves of autumn, vainly
endeavouring to grab at their sticks, rags, and tat-
ters, while their chatter changes to the clatter of a
flock of frightened geese. The shops of the Escolta
close as by magic, their owners repairing to the
second-story windows. It takes but about fifteen
minutes for our entire twenty thousand men to get

Daily Life in " Binondo " 129

to position, so perfectly has the city been mapped
out and each squad and sentinel assigned to position.

For half an hour the town appears devoid of all
life, and then, the alarm passing, the tide of human-
ity flows on once more. The shops open, the con-
cert halls tune up, and all is merry.

The cause of the disturbance to-day, and the
consequent general call to arms, will probably re-
main a mystery — at least there are so many reasons
given that the truth is hopelessly lost. Some attrib-
ute it to the raiding of a gambling hell in the old
town, during which the only victim was a dog.
Horse thieves are talked of and many other causes,
but, whatever the true cause, General Otis con-
sidered it sufficiently important to send in a general
call. But my carriage is ready for another drive.

Almost the first thing a traveller notices is the
unprotected state of the water-works and -mains.
Manila's water-supply is brought to the city from a
distance of seven miles, through large iron pipes on
the surface of the ground. Its source and the pipes
for the greater part of the way are within the insur-
gents' territory, and it is a marvel that they have
never interfered with the system during all these
years of trouble with Spain. But they never have
done so, the reason given being their desire to spare
their families and friends living in the city.

I am told that I cannot travel in the country, that
Aguinaldo will not permit it, yet we drive daily far
beyond our outposts, and we pass hundreds of in-
surgents, who simply salute. On the drive to-day
we visit the Chinese cemetery, some miles beyond
our sentries. The spot is as desolate as such spots

130 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

usually are, but it is on the only rising ground
around Manila, affording an extensive prospect
east, north, and south over rich plains and lovely
mountains, and westward over the city and bay.
Around our feet are scattered the white tombs of
the dead, the Tagalos burying in catacombs and
graves, while the Chinese, even those who are
Christians, still cling to the queer, round-topped
tombs so dear to the Celestials, and upon which the
emblem of Christianity seems strangely out of place.

The scenes in these campos santos are often
terrible to look upon. Here before us is a cata-
comb of a native, ruthlessly broken open by some
vandal, with its coffin torn asunder, displaying the
features of an old man. The wind lifts his snowy
locks as I glance inward, and seems to moan in pro-
test at the desecration of his last sleep, at this
horrible barbarity. The old man has been buried
with care; he was somebody's loved one, so I try
to give him the shelter of his coffin lid, but it is use-
less, and the custodian laughs at me for my pains.
Coming from a country where the dead are treated
with all reverence, the callous indifference of these
people to those they have lost strikes one as horrible ;
but how much more horrible the actions of their
priesthood, who, unless the five dollars yearly are
paid for a grave, will ruthlessly tear it open and cast
the remains into the horrible Golgotha!

We visit also the Campo Santo of Sam Paloc, the
burial-place of the native poor; a vast, neglected
square where both Spaniards and insurgents have
camped time and again. The chapel is wrecked,
and hundreds of graves and catacombs have been

Daily Life in "Binondo" 131

rifled and desecrated. One corner of the wall is
broken down and transformed into an earthwork, just
outside of which stand some of our pickets, and, as
we chat with them, our eyes rove afar inland, over
a lovely landscape of green fields and waving trees
stretching away to where the foot-hills rise to a union
with the higher mountains, spreading off range after
range — a peaceful scene save where our soldiers show
forth, and where the insurgent lines stand out in the
underbrush. Last night two of the insurgents ap-
proached an American soldier, and after the saluta-
tion of Filipinos amigos, stabbed him in the cheek.
He promptly shot them dead, and they now lie in
yonder hut awaiting burial.

During our return drive we pass several barracks
full of insurgents and within easy range of their
forts, but no motion, friendly or hostile, is made.
A wide sweep east and south of the city brings us
to the barracks of the I4th in Malate, just in time
to hear " retreat " sounded for the night. The
evening drill takes place in front of a statue of
Queen Isabella, which stands near an old church.
It is a strange sight to watch the long lines of
American soldiers, to hear our language on all
sides, and then to look around at the crowds of
dark-skinned natives, at the lounging Spanish offi-
cers and insurgents, and, finally, at the placid face
of the Queen where she gazes outward over the bay,
in grave amazement, as it were, at the presence of
Dewey's fleet down near Cavite. Soon the clatter-
ing, cracked bells of the ancient church ring out the
" Angelus," and as it ends the notes of the Star-
Spangled Banner float out on the evening air, while

i32 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

our flag comes slowly down for the night. West-
ward the waters of the bay glisten and quiver in the
sunset. The sky is all aflame, with Dewey's ships
silhouetted against the crimson glow, but ships and
crimson vanish suddenly as the curtain of night falls
on Malate.

CHAPTER XVI

OLD MANILA

Old Manila— Effect of the Earthquakes— Gloom of the Ancient City
— Ruins of Churches and Convents — The Official Palace —
Statue of Magellan — Portraits of Old Spaniards — Portrait of the
Queen and King — View from the Palace Windows — The Cathe-
dral— Desecration of the Edifice by the Prisoners — Monkeys on
the High Altar — Jewels on the Shrines.

M

ANILA is called the Venice of the far East,
probably because there is no resemblance to
the " Bride of the Adriatic." The old city alone
is known as " Manila." All the other sections are
called by separate names. The walls of the ancient
town were built in 1590. Standing on the left bank
of the river, and close to the bay, they are the first
object to attract the traveller's notice. There are
eight drawbridge entrances through them, and,
until 1852, the draws were raised and gates were
closed from n P.M. until 4 A.M. ; but an earthquake
in that year destroyed a portion of one of the gates,
and thereafter the town was decreed open all the
time.

In the great earthquake of 1863 the shock lasted
half a minute, causing four hundred deaths, while
two thousand were wounded by falling buildings.

133

i34 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

The loss was estimated at $8,000,000. Forty-six
public and five hundred and seventy private build-
ings were totally wrecked. This earthquake caused
the abandonment of tiles as roofing, galvanised iron
being substituted.

The shock of 1647 destroyed all the churches but
two, and all the monasteries but one. The shock
of 1863 brought down all the churches again, so that
there are no old edifices. The facades of some,
however, survived both shocks. The ancient city
is sombre and gloomy, and is without popular caf£s,
opera-house, theatre, or place of amusement. All
the trading, all the banks, all the business houses,
theatres, and hotels — all the life, in fact — are in the
section on the island of Binondo, just opposite the
old town and on the right bank of the river.

Old Manila is laid off in squares, the streets being
comparatively wide, and the paving not bad. There
are narrow sidewalks, shaded by the projecting roofs
of the houses and palaces which rise in regular rows
on either side, but never to more than two stories
in height; the stories are, however, very high, so
that the buildings are not squat, but handsome and
stately in appearance, especially the property of the
priests. Here and there the traveller will come
across evidences of the great earthquake of 1863.
Yonder is an entire square shaken into chaos. A
stately church with its attendant cloisters and mon-
asteries once stood there, but nothing save the strong
outer walls and some of the arches have withstood
the shaking of the earth, and the whole is now a
picturesque ruin, covered with clambering vines.

Near by I come upon another enclosure, sur-

Old Manila 135

rounded by a very high wall, with but one entrance.
One of our sentries stands on guard, and I ask him
what it is.

" Don't know, sir, though I have often wondered
at the queer old place."

On entering, I discover that it must have been a
group of buildings similar to the first, but now it is
one vast tenement-house for the very poor, who
cluster around its arches and ruined corridors by the
hundreds. One is not tempted to penetrate into its
vileness farther than the outer quarter.

The antiquary will find few quainter places on the
globe than the old city of Manila, and to him it will
be a pleasure to wander up and down her long,
gloomy streets, peering into each court and patio,
or gazing upward at some richly carved, ecclesiasti-
cal facade, perhaps all that the trembling earth
spared of a sacred edifice, save some lonely pillars
covered with trailing vines. The wine-shops are
many, and the guitar tinkles throughout the length
and breadth of the town, except where the high
walls of the monasteries and convents stare blankly
forth.

The streets of old Manila are all at right angles.
If I remember correctly, this is the case with all
Spanish cities. I can recall none that have crooked
streets, unless it be Havana. Old Manila presents
an attractive but not a majestic panorama. There
are no soaring spires, or domes, or campaniles, but
above its wide moats and massive double walls rise
the roofs of its churches, palaces, monasteries, and
convents, long, low, and gloomy-looking, save where
the brilliant colouring of the walls beneath catches

1 36 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

the sunlight. The palaces and private edifices rise
just high enough to allow one balcony to overlook
the battlements, and, except where the walls of the
fortress rise, dark and sombre, these balconies are
everywhere, that is, on the outer sides toward the sea
and the new city ; and as the sun declines they be-
come peopled with pretty maidens, ugly old women,
sleek, unctuous-looking friars, Spanish prisoners,
and American soldiers, while above all floats that
" flag like a flower " brought by a nation out of the
east.

General Otis and dozens of our officers have their
official quarters in the palace of old Manila — the
private palace of the Spanish Governor is located in
the outer town; the old building faces what was
intended as the main square of the city, with the
cathedral filling part of another side. The palace is
a large two-storied structure, with all the offices and
state apartments on the second floor. This is the
case with all buildings, public and private.

We enter a spacious vestibule and ascend a wide
staircase which branches at a landing for the second
floor. Here we pause a moment to inspect an im-
posing marble statue of Magellan before passing
through a lofty portal into what must have been the
hall of audience. The hall itself, a majestic apart-
ment over one hundred feet long by fifty wide, has a
beautiful parquet floor, and its lofty walls are lined
with long rows of life-size portraits of Spain's famous
men ; here again we see the features of Magellan —
a typical Spanish face and one interesting to look
upon. His eyes seem to follow us with interest as
we pass down the long apartment ; evidently he does

Old Manila 137

not recognise our faces as belonging to his native
land, or to that for which he toiled, suffered, and
died, but his glance is not unfriendly; certainly his
expression is in no degree as sinister or suspicious
as those of the long line of notables which keep him
company.

This is the heart of old Manila. In this room all
the gay festivities must have taken place, all the in-
trigues, all the plots and counter-plots of those who
have held the destinies of these islands in their hands
for three hundred years. I cannot learn the age of
this building, but the spot is and always has been
the site of the official palace.

Passing out of the grand hall and upward to the
main floor, the traveller enters the council chamber,
and is confronted by a chair of state over which
hangs a portrait of the good Queen Regent and the
little King, and I think it is safe to say that each
and every American takes off his hat to Christina,
and has a smile for the little King. The room is
furnished by a large and elaborately carved table
and some dozen or so of heavily carved chairs of
teak- wood, each bearing the royal arms. This, with
the gallery, forms the main apartment of the palace,
but there are many others opening off of the long
halls surrounding the inner court.

The council chamber overlooks the square, now a
desolate plaza with a few melancholy trees occupy-
ing its centre, while in one corner is a crazy cam-
panile, or rather a scaffold, which holds the bells of
the cathedral. The original campanile, shattered
by earthquakes, stands near by.

The cathedral itself rises on the west, and beyond

138 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

are what must be the ruins of the older structure,
also shaken down in the disturbance of 1863. Off
to the right in the arsenal, where a dress parade of
some of our regulars is taking place, one hears the
notes of Marching through Georgia mingling with
the clangour of the bells from the Convent of Santa
Clara, whose long roofs rise behind massive walls
on the extreme right.

But let us enter the cathedral. It is a building of
stately proportions, being some three hundred feet
long by one hundred and fifty wide, with a nave,
choir, and two transepts, also two side aisles, and a
dome of some majesty. There are many frescoes
and altars, and, as in all Spanish churches, the
centre is closed off into a smaller place of worship,
which of course mars the effect, as from no point
can be obtained a general view of the whole edifice.
But as I walk through it to-day I am desirous only
of getting out again." Numberless Spanish soldiers
are here, there, and everywhere, lying asleep on the
high altar and side shrines, using the sacred edifice
in every possible and filthy manner, while pests of
monkeys climb over everything; yonder is one
lying asleep on the spot where, of old, the host
stood in its jewelled monstrance. The floor is
slimy with accumulated filth, and the whole is dese-
crated. I am told that this occurred before our
occupation, that the Church abandoned the edifice
upon some difficulty with the people, and that Spain
first used it as a prison for the insurgents. Certainly
the Anglo-Saxon race has never been given to the
desecration of churches, save in the time of religious
wars, and our authorities would be the last to

Old Manila 139

countenance such conditions as exist in the old
cathedral of Manila to-day. It should not be
allowed to continue ; there are other places for these
prisoners — the buildings of the Convent of Santa
Clara, for instance.

St. Andrew is the patron saint of Manila, and his
day was duly celebrated by High Mass in this cathe-
dral. He is supposed to have saved the city from
the Chinese, and therefore, in bygone years, the
priesthood have asserted the supremacy of the
Church over the State by spreading the nation's
banner over the floor of this edifice for the arch-
bishop to walk over. This custom has since been
changed to a procession in which the banner is
carried in front and is three times dipped to the
image of Christ.'

Vast sums of money have been expended in the
adornment of the sacred images of the church.
Foreman tells us that on All Saints' Day such
crowds of people attend the shrines to pray for the
dead that Chinese coolies are employed to clear
them out every few moments.

CHAPTER XVII

RAMBLES IN OLD MANILA

Attack of the Chinese in 1574 — Ambition of the Clergy — Dishonesty
of Churchmen and Statesmen — Trials of the Governors for
Stealing — Governor-General and his Reputation — His Wife and
the Jewels — The Apportionment of the Land by the Patriot
Leaders to Themselves — Ignorance of the People on the Subject
— The Jesuits and their Monastery — Age of Manila's Churches
—The Fortress of Old Manila— The "Black Hole" and its
Victims — Armament of the Fort — Officers' Club in the Fortress
— Pretty Maidens — Ugly and Slovenly Older Women — The
Paseo and Luneta — Gorgeous Sunsets- Wonderful Display of
the Fireflies.

HPHE famous attack of the Chinese occurred in
1 1574, and the Spaniards were as unprepared
then as they were in these latter days. The enejny
penetrated within the very walls of the city before
the Governor-General would believe that an attack
was intended. Then the people fled to Fort Santi-
ago. Cavite saw at that time also a waiting fleet,
but though fleet and army both attacked the city,
the Spaniards finally gained the victory ; the Chinese
leader, however, actually obtained admittance to the
fortress.

That curse of the Spanish nation — internal dissen-
sion— gave little peace to Manila in the years that

140

Rambles in Old Manila

followed, and even then the immoderate ambition
of the clergy had commenced that work which in
the end wrecked the happiness of the archipelago.
Peculations, frauds, jealousies, and quarrels among
both secular and religious bodies had commenced
even in 1598. A governor-general was not allowed
to depart without an inquiry, generally very neces-
sary, to twist his official neck, and few escaped their
enemies at such a time, were they guilty or innocent.
The records of Manila show the trials of governor
after governor for fraud and stealing. Torralba, in
1717, was charged with stealing $7,000,000. Con-
demned to pay a heavy fine and to banishment from
the Philippines and Madrid, he died in poverty in
the hospital; but both before and after him the
records are no better, down to our own day. The
power of these governors was absolute, and they
were often the executioners of the guilty — as in the
case of De Lua in 1622, who, suspecting his wife of
infidelity, called his priest to confess both the
woman and her paramour, after which he (the hus-
band) stabbed them both. The house of the lover
was razed to the ground and salt was strewn over
the site. The husband continued to govern for two
years and then died of melancholy.

In our day one of the governors has left a lasting
fame behind him. It is stated here that he appro-
priated some four million Mexican dollars for his
use, and that was but one of his many venal acts.
His wife worked hand and glove with him, and the
two got all they could. For instance, it was cus-
tomary to present to the wife of the new governor-
general a necklace of jewels, and three were sent to

142 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

this woman for her selection. She kept them all.
If she saw any ornament upon a native, half-caste,
or Spaniard which she admired, she would ask to
look at it and would then remark, " I like this. I
shall keep it. ' ' She sold the positions within the grip
of her husband to the highest bidder. Small wonder
that the honest members of the Spanish Cortes, in
open session, called this man a " thief and liar."

That which the rulers of these islands have prac-
tised for three centuries has been well learned by
the natives ; they know no other method, and, to-
day, the so-called " patriot leaders " have mapped
off most of the rich haciendas, allotting an equal
number to each of their members; if successful in
driving out our forces they will then be able to sell
out at a higher figure. Of course, if we hold the
islands this will not work — hence their determina-
tion to be independent. If all this could be ex-
plained to the people the cause of the " patriots "
would collapse, but it cannot. No native paper
will publish it, and the people could not read it if
this were done.

I sat for an hour to-day in the parlour of the
Jesuit monastery talking to the Father Superior and
several of the brethren. One of the latter spoke
some English, but a continuous residence of twenty-
five years had banished most of it from his memory.
The room we were in was the only spot in the build-
ing not profaned by the war. All the corridors and
apartments were full of Spanish prisoners, and
paintings of long-dead saints, popes, and padres
gazed down in wonder at the sights and sounds
which had invaded their solitude.

Rambles in Old Manila 143

Outside in the courtyards and cloisters resounded
the noise of hundreds of voices, but the peace and
quiet of the past lingered in this parlour and in the
great church adjoining. It is here that I learn from
the Father Superior that all the churches of Manila
were shattered and thrown down by the trembling
earth in 1863. This and all the others, including
the cathedral, date from 1867. Naturally this de-
tracts from our interest and we take our departure,
making our salutations to the white-robed fathers,
who stand with clasped hands at the head of the
grand staircase, looking strangely out of place sur-
rounded by all this Babylon of war, and surely
holding nothing in common with the condemned
friars.

The fortress, we find, with the city walls, is the
only portion of the old town which dates from be-
fore the earthquake. It is situated at the angle of
the river and the bay, and in its walls, which are of
enormous thickness, doubtless many relics of Span-
ish barbarity would come to light if a systematic
examination were attempted. The donjons show
traces of having been closed up in many places, and,
probably, as at the Convent of Santo Domingo in
Mexico, many a ghastly horror would be exposed
by opening these places. There are several visible
donjons, dark and dank enough for all purposes, and
in one of them, called the " Black Hole," more
than one hundred political prisoners were shut
down, most of whom perished. Another, fifteen
by forty feet, held eighty poor wretches upon whom
the door had been closed and they had been " for-
gotten." All were suffocated. Better, surely, the

144 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

fate of those who were shot to death out on the
fashionable drive, a sight that people were wont to
drive to as they now do to listen to the music.

This old fort is doubly moated and thickly walled.
It is an enlarged St. Augustine. There are some
good guns upon the walls, but they show no evi-
dence of having been used or that any attempt was
made to do so. In the court of the arsenal, outside
the main portal, — an archway richly decorated with
the arms of Spain, — are quantities of fine shot and
shell piled in symmetrical rows and pyramids, and
all undisturbed; indeed, it is said that this ammu-
nition will not fit any of the guns in the city. In-
side of one courtyard stands a poor Filipino who
murdered a man not long since. He has been tried
and the evidence sent to Washington, but let us
hope that his case will not be passed upon as though
he were a white man; he knew not what he did.
As I passed him he fairly grovelled on the ground.
He sleeps at night, and has done so for a month,
in one of the old donjons of the fortress.

The officers at the citadel have very pleasant
quarters. They have formed a club, the main room
of which, located on the city walls, overlooks all the
river with its shipping, and the., modern city with its
life bubbling over the Spanish Bridge.

There are certain inhabitants of the citadel which
apparently object most strongly to our occupation,
as upon the slightest relaxation of vigilance they
descend in numbers and steal everything in sight —
small monkeys, which run shrieking and chattering
all over the fortress. All sorts of traps have been
laid for them, and great has been the harvest. I

Rambles in Old Manila 145

counted ten shut up in one small closet, all of which
had been captured on the previous day. Many of
them have been domesticated, but with sad results,
as no amount of Western education will make a
monkey honest. The little creatures chatter and
threaten us as we pass out into the streets of the
city. The sun is towards his setting, and we leave
the shadows of the old town to enjoy the spectacu-
lar display he is sure to offer ere he goes to rest.
The city has awakened and is preparing to follow us.
As the cool hours of the day approach, one will
note in the old town the appearance at the win-
dows of many a sweet-faced, dark-eyed Spanish
beauty, and often, in the shadows of the street, can
be seen her silent lover, for thus, from afar, is the
courting done in Spanish lands. Day after day
they will gaze at each other from a distance, and all
the while the old duenna sits just behind the girl in
the shadow of the casement. If the young people de-
cide— silently, it must be — to carry matters further,
the lover approaches the father, but not until the
full betrothal is he allowed to converse with his
lady-love. These Spanish beauties soon lose all
trace of good looks, and I fancy it is largely owing
to the life they lead, which consists in doing nothing
all day long, sleeping just as long as possible, and
only waking up to dress and drive when the sun is
setting. As they grow older and are married, they
become more and more slovenly. It is a common
sight here to see a carriage in the Luneta with three
pretty girls, neatly dressed, attended by a mother
or older married sister, perfect slovens; looking as
though they had not dressed at all, and as if the

146 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

simple removal of a dirty, loose-fitting wrapper
would find them ready for bed. As for fresh water,
they certainly know little about it, and if you sail
on a Spanish ship you will find the bathrooms used
as storerooms, or, if the ship is crowded, with beds
made on or in them. But let us pass outward to
the " Rotten Row " of Manila.

The Paseo de Santa Lucia and the Luneta, form-
ing together the fashionable drive of Manila, extend
from the river along the bay for about two miles.
Starting at the monument of Simon de Anda, the
former runs for the first mile in front of the old city,
the deep moat of which bounds it on the left. There
the ancient town is seen to the best advantage, as
its forts, palaces, cathedrals, bishop's palace, and
the new and very splendid buildings of the St.
Augustines front that side. The more the traveller
contemplates that old town the greater becomes his
amazement that a place so capable of stubborn de-
fence was so promptly surrendered — but it has sur-
rendered, its gates all stand wide open, and from
them pour a steady stream of vehicles, while its
walls are thronged with American and Spanish
soldiers, the latter prisoners in name, watching the
passing crowd or the panorama of city, river, bay,
and distant mountains.

This avenue is bordered with palm trees, but the
flowers have been neglected. Indeed, the Botani-
cal Gardens on the other drive have been entirely
destroyed, the trees having been cut down to afford
a better outlook from the forts. Admiral Dewey's
fleet is visible down the harbour, while southward,
near the suburbs of Malate, the monitor Monadnock

Rambles in Old Manila 14?

has drawn near the coast and trained her guns on
the approach to the city. They say that the first
appearance of those engines of destruction, the
monitors, sailing past fort and city ended all
thoughts of resistance, yet there are four great
Krupp cannon yonder that with the proper men
behind them could greatly have troubled the Mo-
nadnock, and if Manila had been in the hands of
any nation save Spain they would have been used,
despite the threats of our Admiral.

On the farther section of this Luneta the military
executions used to take place, and, while the band
played, the people lined up in their carriages to
watch them. Political criminals were generally
shot.

As we leave the Luneta and turn towards the city
nature puts her most gorgeous colours into the sun-
set. From the Spanish Bridge the river and ship-
ping are all aflame, while the old walled town rises
dark and gloomy above it, until the sun turns the
towers and domes into a golden glow. Above, the
whole background of the sky is of that fair turquoise
blue so beautiful in the dome of heaven, and across
its very centre pulsates a wonderful river of rose
colour, while trailing banners of the deepest crimson
are flaunted far out over a sea dark and mysterious,
save where its bosom ever and anon reflects the
glory above it.

In the avenues of Malate last evening I witnessed
one of the loveliest sights I have ever seen in the
tropics. The sunset had faded and night's curtain
had descended, when I became aware that an illum-
ination of some extraordinary sort was going on

148 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

all around me. All the trees great and small up
and down both sides of the avenue, and off into the
plantations on either hand, suddenly glowed with
what seemed to be myriads of small electric lights;
little globes as large as a pea hung trembling in
countless numbers amidst the dark green leaves,
glowing and quivering, and throwing out so much
light that the effect was like soft moonlight; it
came not from the genius of Edison, however, but
from the wondrous storehouse of nature, for those
lights were all living fireflies; but the deception was
all the greater because, unlike those of other lands,
they clung steadfastly to one spot and glowed with
a steady silvery light. Nothing in nature could be
more beautiful, especially appearing, as it did, out
of that deep gloom which in the tropics always fol-
lows the gorgeousness of departing day; when,
especially here in Manila, the heavens, night after
night, declare the glory of God as they rarely seem
to do elsewhere on earth. I watched the wonderful
spectacle of the fireflies for hours, half expecting to
hear fairy music in the enchanted silence, and to see
Titania suddenly appear with her winged court.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE FRIARS

The Garrote — The Observatory — The Spanish Bridge — Passage of
the Archbishops and Governors-General — The Circuit of the
Old City — The Archiepiscopal Residence — That of the August-
ines — The Number of these Institutions — Friars of the Fifteenth
Century Have Nothing in Common with Enlightened Catholics
— The Procurators in Madrid — The Fate of an Enlightened
Brother — Power of the Friars over the People — Dishonour —
Prison Record of Dorothea Arteaga — Attempt to Serve a War-
rant on a Friar — Vowed to Celibacy, but Chastity is Unknown —
Boasts of a Friar — Refusal to Bury the Dead — Destruction of the
Churches by Infuriated Natives — Names of the Orders — Their
Enormous Wealth — The Convent of Santa Clara — A Decoy
House — Events of 1888 — The Secret Passage — Condition To-
day— Attempted Entrance — Chaplain Stevens of the I4th Regu-
lars and his Conflict over the Schoolhouse — Aguinaldo's Refusal
and the Archbishop's Commands — Opposition of the Friars to
Enlightenment — Reports from Porto Rico — Obligations of our
Government — Confiscation of Paco Cemetery — The Golgotha —
Purchase of a Cemetery for the Poor — Graves of our Dead in
Paco Campo Santo — A Soldier's Funeral.

TO-DAY I visited the prison for the purpose of
seeing the garrote, and on asking for it was
referred to the office, where for a moment I waited,
resting against a wooden upright near the door.
" I would like to see the garrote."
" You are leaning against it, sir."
149

1 50 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

' That harmless-looking thing ? "
' Yes; it has sent over forty into the other world
to my knowledge."

It is certainly simplicity itself — a short, square
column of wood some four feet high, with a wooden
seat on one side. Near the top at the height of a
man's neck the column passes through a parallel-
ogram of brass some four inches in width by a foot
and a half long, the front of which opens to admit
the neck. Through the back of this and through the
column of wood passes an iron screw which enters a
cross-bar of brass. This slides forward in grooves
cut in the inner face of the parallelogram. This
cross-bar is round, as is the inner face of the front
bar, so that towards the neck, front and back, are
presented these two round bars of brass. The back
one is shoved forward by a turn of the handle on the
other end of the screw, and a half-turn of that handle
is sufficient to break the neck and cause instant
death. A full turn has been known to sever the
head from the body. There is no piercing the neck
by a needle or rod, simply this sudden pressure;
the head falls forward, the victim gives a gasp, and
all is over. Executions by the garrote are said to
produce painless, instantaneous death. This instru-
ment looked new and fresh. There were no stains
of any sort on its shining metal or wood.

It was pleasant to pass from the contemplation of
man's suffering to the calm, pure atmosphere of the
observatory, where I was received by two Irish
priests who spoke excellent English — perfect, in
fact. One of them showed me with justifiable pride
the interesting institution which is conducted by the

THE QARROTE, MANILA.

The Friars 15 1

Jesuits. It is young, but seems very full of the
finest instruments. Of special interest were those
which warn of the coming of typhoons and mark
their course, some travelling in vast circles until lost
in the Pacific, others moving, apparently, as straight
as a crow flies, while others zigzagged in their pass-
age. Earthquakes were also recorded by fine black
lines on white paper. The sounds from the under-
world are listened for and recorded. You may hear
them yourself by the use of those ear-trumpets, but
no sound, save when the volcanic forces are at work,
ever comes up from the world beneath us. To de-
scribe all here would be impossible. The library is
very extensive and in good order. Its books are in
all languages. Outside, the tower for a large tele-
scope is about completed, the instrument being
already in place. The institution is also a school,
and has several hundred students. Apparently the
priests are in favour of our rule. They spoke as
though they were of us, and strongly insisted upon
the " establishment of schools as soon as might be
for the teaching of OUR language." Their clear
faces and bright calm eyes are pleasant to look
upon, reminding the traveller of their honourable
brethren at home.

The Spanish Bridge connecting the old town with
the new is crowded with the passing multitude, who
are kept in order by our sentries. The approach on
the north is steep, and the little street-cars are
drawn up at the usual wild rate of speed, to the in-
cessant tooting of a shrill tin whistle. Manila
crowds are democratic in these degenerate days, but
had you chanced to pass this way some years since,

152 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

when Spain and the Church were in full power, you
might have witnessed the passing of the Archbishop
with his many outriders, and if so, you would have
stood still with hat off, or his guards would have
knocked it off for you, with no care as to whether or
not they knocked your head off. The same cere-
mony was insisted upon when the Governor-General
passed by in his coach.

To-day I saw His Grace the Prelate as he left his
palace in the old town — left it quietly and with no
state. I had but a glimpse of a large, black-browed
and olive-skinned man with a very gloomy expres-
sion. To his credit it is stated that, realising the
hopelessness of resistance, he urged the surrender of
the city in the name of humanity. If the present
state of affairs does not please him he has to thank
his friars here for it. Had he and his predecessors
forced these men to imitate their brethren in Eng-
land and America, these islands would not have been
in the state they are to-day. Leaving the door of
his palace, we made the circuit of the old city, pass-
ing j ust inside the walls. The ecclesiastical buildings
are many and some are very fine, especially that of
the Augustines — which is next to the archiepiscopal
residence. The present structure, which has never
been finished, and which probably occupies the site
of an older one, is used by us for our Spanish prison-
ers. Its lower story is of dark red marble, while its
upper floor, projecting over the pavement, is of
wood, richly carved and gilded. A small gallery
spanning a narrow street connects this building with
the college, whose massive walls, gloomy and for-
bidding, built like a fortress with iron-barred win-

The Friars 153

dows, have more the appearance of a prison than a
college. The entire group reminds the observer of
the palace of the Doges, the prison, and the connect-
ing " Bridge of Sighs."

The outer circuit of the city — within the walls —
seems given over to these institutions, and as we
pass, numbers of friars are visible, showing that
many are still left in Manila, though many more
have fled. The friars of the Philippines have at all
times been the real power in these islands. They
do not belong to the present age, but are of the
fifteenth century and have nothing in common with
the enlightened Catholic Church of Europe and
America. They hold allegiance in name only to
the Pontiff. They have enormous wealth, and have
used it to bribe the authorities at Madrid, who have
allowed them to do as they desired. Each order
possesses a procurator in the capital, who constantly
guards their interests. They have been condemned
at all times openly and strongly by respectable
members of the Church who have ventured into
these islands. If an enlightened, progressive brother
was sent out to them he was either returned at once
or" disappeared." I am told that this happened
but a few years ago.

The story of the deaths of General Solano in 1860
and the Bishop of Cebu in 1873, which occurred so
opportunely for the welfare of these monastics, would
prove interesting reading. Such has been the power
of these friars over these people for centuries, that
they — the people — have been led to accept dishonour
from them as right and fitting, but they have not
always submitted.

154 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

There is to be seen among the prison records now
in the hands of our authorities, one, a charge of
sacrilege against a woman, Dorothea Arteaga, who
was charged with stealing a chalice from the altar;
but in the account of the trial the real reason — her
opposition to dishonour — was given. We are told
of another priest, against whom a warrant had been
secured by the friends of his victim, who promptly
shot the man who attempted to serve it, and threat-
ened to shoot anyone who should repeat the at-
tempt, and that ended the matter.

' Taken as a whole, it would be impossible to
speak with too great severity of the disrepute into
which the actions of these dissolute men has brought
the Roman Catholic religion in these islands. A man
of God on whom rests the most solemn vows of holi-
ness, chastity, and poverty, living amongst a simple
and impressionable race, a monster of iniquity, an
extensive landowner nursing his ill-gotten wealth,
a monument of lechery and debauch. Let us hasten
to add that the Philippine himself is far from being
morally immaculate. The priest may take his
daughter or his sister and welcome, for the offspring
will be a person of such added importance as Euro-
pean blood never fails to give in Eastern countries.
But the islander draws the line firmly at his wife and
equally firmly at his prospective bride, and it is from
wanton straying into these forbidden pastures that
the good shepherd has been mainly instrumental in
bringing his country into trouble.

" So aggressive indeed have the priests become
that cases were actually known where the priest had
refused at the altar to marry a couple, having him-

The Friars 155

self there in that holy place cast lecherous eyes over
the would-be bride and determined to reserve her
for his own base desires. Stories about the priests
are so numerous and so well authenticated that it is
impossible for any impartial person not to acknow-
ledge that the islanders had just and substantial
grounds for including a sweeping indictment of the
whole class amongst the main grievances which they
had against the Spanish suzerainty. " (The Philip-
pines, by Major Younghusband, page 14.)

These friars are vowed to celibacy, but make no
pretence of leading, or of being expected to lead,
chaste or pure lives, and it is a well-known fact that
they have kept their mistresses openly, with no at-
tempt at concealment. Foreman in his book — a
standard work — on the islands speaks of this, and
adds:

" Surely the present state of these islands is due
to the pernicious example and influence of these
priests. How can anyone expect anything save
oppression and robbery when those in charge of
their souls' welfare and their hope of a life to come
set them so degraded an example ! Is it to be
wondered at that the Spanish empire fell, and who
save the priesthood are to blame therefor ? "

An Englishman who has lived in these islands for
many years informed me that a friar in his district
in the country boasted of his " conquests " among
his congregation ; the gentleman also stated that his
servant one day came to him, complaining that he
could not get his child, who had been dead four
days, buried, unless he paid the priest $16 — out of a
salary of $20 per month. His master, becoming in-

i56 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

dignant, decided to report the case to the Governor,
and directed his man to bring the name of the priest ;
but the latter, getting wind of the matter, buried
the child. The dead must be buried in this climate
on the day they die, and four days meant a horror
for all concerned. These statements, which are but
a fraction of the whole, can all be proven, and if
those official records are ever printed the civilised
world will be horrified. It is certainly better that
such things should be made known, better that such
actions should be exposed to the condemnation of
the whole world, Catholic and Protestant, that not
only the transgressors, but also those who have
aided and abetted by concealment and otherwise,
be impeached.

Many of these friars have now fled from the
islands and live in Hong Kong and other cities,
but in view of what is known of their horrid lives
and terrible practices one forgives the destruction of
their churches. The edifices have been desecrated
by their presence far more than by the blows of the
destroyers, and all the rains of heaven will not wash
them pure again. The orders most detested by the
people are the Dominicans, Augustines, Franciscans,
and Recollets. The Jesuits should not be included,
as they are not of that stamp, and a genuine senti-
ment in their favour exists.

It will be stated in favour of these orders that
whatever education or advancement these people
possess is due to these instructors; but that all the
good they have ever done is wiped out by their acts
of robbery, oppression, and degradation is amply
proved by the intense hatred of all the people for

The Friars 157

them — a hatred so bitter that it has extended to the
destruction of the churches where their families have
worshipped for centuries, to the very dead in their
graves.

If the insurgents should drive us out, their first
act would be wholesale slaughter of the friars, guilty
and innocent, and this we cannot permit. Still,
and notwithstanding all this, our Government must
remember that these friars will never be friendly to
America, because enlightenment and progress mean
death and destruction to their power. On the con-
trary, they will at the first signs of an advance from
these insurgents join forces with them at once, trust-
ing to a common religion and language, to like man-
ners and customs, and to old associations to regain
for them their lost place and full power.

The wealth of the brethren is enormous here,
even though huge sums have been invested else-
where. They own largely in Hong Kong, Shanghai,
and at many other points under the English flag.

I have been told by the general manager in the
East of the greatest steamship lines to the East that
about the time we captured Manila, the sick in her
hospitals were informed by the friars that there was
no medicine, nor money with which to buy it, yet
at that very time these friars sent $27,000,000
(Mexican) to Shanghai.

They have been an absolute power, bowing to
none, as the prison records demonstrate. The
memory of the affair of the Convent of Santa Clara,
which occurred but ten years since, in 1888, is still
fresh in the minds of the English who reside here.
It was simply a decoy house into which girls were

158 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

enticed by the friars, and into which one was de-
coyed who happened to be more respectable or
more independent than the others. The first night
she fled shrieking through the building and man-
aged to get out on the roof, where she made herself
heard by the patrol, who broke in the door. Manila
happened at that time to have an honest, honourable
man for governor, who decided to make investiga-
tions. A secret passage was found connecting the
building with an adjoining monastery. The results
of the investigation under the grass of the court-yard
scandalised even Manila. The affair was hushed up,
however, by the power of the Archbishop.

The Convent of Santa Clara was founded in 1621
by Geronima de la Asuncion, and is to-day still an
institution of the Middle Ages. Refusing to admit
reforms, she was expelled by the friars, but was
afterwards restored for twenty years. Even at that
period, public opinion was vividly aroused by the
horrible reports about this institution, but how little
effect public opinion had is proved by the suppres-
sion of the incident of 1888. People in Manila
strongly hint that things are not one whit better
under its roof to-day than in 1888. It stands within
the walls of the old city, close by the official offices
of the Governor-General, which are now occupied
by General Otis, and consists of a mass of buildings
surrounded by a wall thirty feet high, old, dark, and
so solid that it has defied the passing of the centuries
and the tremblings of the earth which shook the ad-
jacent cathedral into "ruins. Over its top rises the
dome of the convent church, and the long roofs of
the buildings are just visible.

The Friars 159

The sun shines down hot and brilliant as we pound
on the portal. All Manila has retired for its daily
siesta, and our knocking resounds through empty
streets and quiet courts with a startling sound. A
few dogs rise up to bark at us, but no human being
takes note or mark. We are told that the convent
at this time is empty, and one of our sentries near
by ventures the remark that " none save the dead
live there." But there must be a custodian some-
where within, and if so, he shall come forth. Our
blows on the ancient portal are renewed again and
again, until the solid shutters of a grated casement
open about an inch, allowing the sharp nose and
black eyes of a gaunt old man to be seen. He re-
gards us in silent wonder for the space of a moment,
then, upon seeing that we are bent on an entrance
and are of the race of his conquerors, one of us
being in uniform, he closes the shutters and opens
the door, admitting us to a long, narrow courtyard.
On the right rise the high outer walls, on the left
the rear of the convent church, and beyond, the
buildings of the institution, its long roofs decorated
here and there with the emblem of our common re-
ligion, strangely out of place in an institution with
such a reputation.

We pause to inspect the main portal, a stately
structure with pillars and arches. From its niches
the statues of many saints gaze down upon us, and
all is old, grey, and moss-grown. Like the portals
of the churches it is very massive, has evidently
stood for many centuries, and is, with some ruined
arches, all that has been spared, save the outer walls,
by the earthquakes. Passing within, we find our-

160 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

selves in a lofty, square hall, on whose white walls
hangs a large painting of some sacred subject.
There is a barred doorway on one side, and a small
wicket with a wooden shutter on the other.

Well ? We gaze at the old man, and he returns
our regard. Then we knock on the door, and his
glance changes to one of horror, while the woman
who has followed us nearly faints. Suddenly, on
the silence which ensues upon our clatter, there
arises the sound of women's voices chanting a hymn,
and as suddenly the ludicrousness of our position
strikes not only ourselves, but the old man and the
woman, and in company we sit down and laugh until
exhaustion reduces us to silence. The convent is not
' ' empty, ' ' and we have with much noise and clamour
demanded entrance where no man is supposed ever
to have been. The old porter evidently knows the
history of the institution, but heretofore the silence
of night has shrouded all entrance to this " sacred "
institution. Here, however, are two Americans that
come at high noon, disturb his slumbers with great
clatter, and make no false pretence about their de-
sire and intention of entering this convent of Santa
Clara. " What next, what next ? "

He continues to chuckle, and the old woman holds
up her hands in pretended horror while she casts
glances of admiration at my handsome young com-
panion, decked out in a white uniform with gold
straps. We wait some time in hopes that the wicket
may open and the Lady Abbess look forth, but no
sound breaks the intense stillness, even the chant-
ing voices have died away into silence. As we pass
out and down the empty courtyard, the custodian

The Friars 161

takes us into the cool, shadowy church; its high
altars are a mass of gilding, flowers, embroideries,
and many statues, sacred paintings adorn its walls,
and across one end runs the nuns' gallery, enclosed
by a fine latticework.

Conveying our thanks in a substantial manner to
the old man, we depart, greatly disappointed in not
having found the Convent of Santa Clara empty and
open for inspection.

So much for the past history of these friars —
and, in this connection, it will be well to relate an
incident which fully demonstrates the position they
have taken towards our people, an incident which
came under my personal observation.

Chaplain Pierce of the I4th U. S. Infantry was
requested by a delegation of Filipinos to perform
certain services, such as the burial of the dead, etc.,
for them. They were all poor people, and the
priests of their Church had refused to bury the dead
unless paid for that service, and also to allow a
grave unless paid for it. Hence the application to
the American chaplain. That the prayer was
granted goes without saying. The dead were
buried, and that service led to a request by many
for religious instruction. A schoolhouse was ob-
tained and a service was held, the service book
of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew being used.
Promptly the priests began to oppose the measure,
and the schoolmaster was ordered to refuse the use
of his building. The following Sunday, however,
another service was held by the American chaplain,
whereupon an application was made to Aguinaldo
to forbid it. But, to his credit be it said, he replied

162 -Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

that " the patriots had decreed the separation at
once and forever of Church and State, and so long
as he held command, or could influence matters,
this order should be maintained."

The Archbishop was then appealed to, and he
ordered the schoolmaster, upon pain of dismissal,
to close his house, ordered his simple furniture re-
moved, and the books of the Brotherhood of St.
Andrew to be burned. But service was held, no
closing or burning was done, and our flag floats over
the schoolhouse. It is the old, old story dealt with
by all nations, and recently by Mexico — the deter-
mination of the ignorant priests to prevent the
ingress of all enlightenment, knowing that it means
the downfall of their power. In this nineteenth
century, in most countries, they have come to the
realisation of the fact that the world has advanced
beyond the toleration of such actions, and that the
intelligent clergy of their Church of to-day will not
countenance them. Our Government, if it retains
these islands and those of the West Indies, from
whence come like reports, must deal with these
friars with a strong hand, must force them to leave
the islands if they in any way attempt to interfere
with the rights of man to worship God as his con-
science dictates, or if they do not stop their de-
bauchery of the people. But these friars rest under
the impression that the laws of three centuries ago
will still be held in force.

The United States Government has confiscated
the ancient campo santo in Paco — as strange a
burial-place as our boys in blue have ever rested in.
It stands well without the city, and is unique in

The Friars . 163

form. The campos santos of Europe are generally
square enclosures, with walls full of catacombs rising
tier above tier, the centre being a rank mass of
tangled grasses. This one is a vast circle, entered
under an ancient, moss-grown gateway, and on
either side the walls circle away, pierced like the
others by the rows of catacombs ; but here there is
an inner circle, also entered by an archway, and also
full of the catacombs. Facing the entrance and
across the centre stands a mortuary chapel where
services are held, and behind this are two smaller
circles used for the interment of children, while be-
tween these is the Golgotha, its stone arch bearing
those emblems of mortality, the skull and cross-
bones; and on either side of this arch rise two
flights of steps. Mounting one of these, the visitor
finds himself on the brink of a high semicircular
pit, full of the remains of thousands of bodies, all
that is left of the poor dead whose relatives have
ceased to pay the tax of five dollars per year neces-
sary to their retaining their graves, and so all that
is left of them is raked out and cast here, where the
sunshine and rain beat them year by year more and
more deeply into the dust.

Chaplain Pierce has raised a fund to purchase a
spot of ground where the dead may rest until called
forth by God, but to do so he was forced to pur-
chase the property through a middleman, a native,
the priests having forbidden the sale of all lands to
the Americans. Perhaps our Government will stand
this, and perhaps it will not. At any rate, it has
taken possession of that old campo santo, and the
mounds that cover our dead boys in blue are rising

1 64 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

thick and fast in the centre thereof. From the walls
stare the names and titles of Old Spain, names that
bring to the mind memories of the gypsies dancing
near the Darrow, memories of the Alhambra, of the
grim Escorial, or of gay Seville, all dead " for love
of country " ; but on the marble headstones in the
centre one reads names that bring up the wild free
life and air of the Rockies, and the life and hope of
America. The eyes grow dim as they gaze, blotting
out the little flags that already flutter over the grass
in this ancient " holy field " of Manila.

As we depart the Dead March sounds upon the
air as the funeral cortege of another boy in blue
comes slowly in under the old grey archway. We
stand with bowed heads as his body is committed
to the foreign soil, while that saddest of all melo-
dies, " taps," sounds his requiem. Peace to his
ashes and to his soul! Are all the islands of the
world worth the destruction of a dozen such as he,
or the sorrow that must come down upon his home
and kindred, where perhaps his death means the
loss of all things ?

CHAPTER XIX

THE "BROTHERHOOD OF BLOOD"

Quarters of the I4th Regulars — Dinner at the Mess — Rations of our
Army in Manila — The Hospitals and their Corps — Condition of
the Men in Manila — Excitement in the City — "Brotherhood of
Human Bloodhounds " — The Katipunan Society — Its Origin —
Power — Operations against the Spaniards — The First Plot — The
Press in Manila — Punishment of a Tagalo by a Soldier.

MUCH of my time is spent with the officers of
the I4th Regulars. Their quarters in Malate,
close by the waters of the bay, are in a Spanish
house, and a private house in Manila is most attract-
ive. There is nothing magnificent about it, but it
is very wide, spacious, and airy. In plan it is
always square, the second floor, supported by orna-
mental brackets, overhanging the first some four
feet, and, in turn, it is sheltered by a roof with deep
eaves. The structure is generally white, or some
pale tint, with the panels — it is always built of
wood — outlined, and the brackets picked out in
bright colours. It is placed well back in the yard,
embowered in brilliant flowering shrubs. The second
floor is the state floor, and holds all the living-rooms,
which are attractive-looking apartments with highly
polished parquetry. A wide staircase leads to a

165

1 66 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

large square hall around which the apartments clus-
ter, but so large are the doors of communication that
it seems, as regards hall, drawing-room, reception-
room, and dining-room, to be one apartment. The
bedrooms, of course, are more private, and some are
on the ground floor. There is no glass used in the
buildings, except in the show-windows of the shops.
For a cold night the windows of the dwellings are
protected by sliding shutters, the small squares of
which are filled with mica or a thin shell. By day
the sun is kept out by a set of Venetian slats.
When both of these are drawn back the entire house
stands open to inspection from the street, and during
my constant drives around the city I became inti-
mately acquainted with the domestic arrangements
of hundreds of our soldiers. At the headquarters
of the I4th Regulars, I can generally tell who is at
home without leaving my carriage. The officers are
never all there, but someone is sure to be on hand
to extend a welcome, which makes Manila seem
very near home.

Dinner is generally served at seven o'clock, and
the time at the table is spent more in chaff than in
disposing of what is set before us. One of the
officers, Lieutenant Mitchell, an Irishman, is one
of the oldest lieutenants in our army, and has served
all through the Civil and Indian wars. He has a
full measure of the wit of his native land, and also
of its hasty temper, which the other officers delight
to ruffle. But all like him. He is a general favour-
ite and will be greatly mourned.* The rations of the
mess are all that can be desired — plain, but good,

* Poor fellow, he was killed in the first engagement a month later.

"The Brotherhood of Blood " 167

and there is plenty of it. I have noticed that our
entire forces are well supplied with wholesome food
— excellent beef brought from Australia, good bread,
and good coffee. The men fare as well as the offi-
cers. The hospitals and their corps are also re-
ported to be in fine condition and well managed,
and have there ever been reports to the contrary ? —
yet, this is Manila, thousands of miles from home;
almost as far as was Montauk Point!

Is, or is not, this state of affairs in Manila a criti-
cism upon the camp at Montauk ? I have been
asked by several men over here why, as Montauk
was " approved " as a camp site in June, the essen-
tials of a camp were not at once placed there ; why
no move was made until one week before the hospi-
tal ships arrived in August. It certainly was known
that they would come, and surely they would be
ordered to a site " approved " weeks before. I
have also been asked why the hotel at Fire Island
— owned by the Government — was not used for the
sick and dying, or why others such as that at Long
Beach were not purchased. I confess that I could
not answer the questions.

What may be the result upon our soldiers of a
summer in these islands remains to be seen, but
certainly up to this time — January 15, 1899 — they
all appear to be in good condition, happy, and
contented.

The drive back from Manila to the city takes one
past barracks after barracks, all crowded with our
soldiers, apparently having a very good time. Many
of the old Spanish barracks are in use, but, being
insufficient, vast buildings of framework, walled

1 68 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

with matting and heavily thatched, have been
erected. They are all raised some three feet from
the ground, are but one story in height, and are
composed chiefly of vast, open windows. There-
fore the danger from fire cannot be great, and fire-
escapes are certainly not necessary. The men are
at their ease, but I notice that their guns stand
stacked near by, and the sentries are many and
vigilant.

January 14., 1899. — There seems to be an unusual
amount of subdued excitement to-night ! Rumours
of all sorts fill the city, and the monitor Monadnock
is constantly sweeping the country down by Malate
with her powerful search-lights. The Monterey has
steam up, ready to join her on call. Instructions
are to the soldiers to be prepared to-morrow with
pick and spade to throw up earthworks if necessary,
and the announcement was sent to all headquarters
that the rebels would come around to church to-
morrow and begin operations all over town immedi-
ately thereafter. They are allowed during the day
to come and go — without arms — as they please, and
our men have orders to avoid all hostilities. Yes-
terday, when our sentries fell back half a mile to
avoid a party of insurgents, our boys were indignant
and sure of treachery. It will go hard with these
people when they press our men too far. They will
find no cowards, as they now believe each and every
American to be.

Nine P.M. brings rumours that the attack is to be
made to-night. The Escolta is deserted, and foreign
flags are everywhere. An English one floats over
the hotel just before my window. I have no idea

The " Brotherhood of Blood " 169

that the peace will be disturbed just yet, and I really
think, if we can avoid a conflict and keep on the
even tenor of our way, yielding nothing, and ceas-
ing all communications or proclamations to the so-
called leaders, that matters will quiet down; that
trade interests will effect what no proclamation will
do ; that the people, finding they are dealt honestly
and justly by, and have nothing to find fault with,
will return to work and business; and that, the
wheels of commerce once started, self-interest and
the acquisition of wealth will settle the matter. As
affairs stand now, these people have no standard to
judge us by, save the Spanish, and they fully believe
that our treatment of them will be as bad as that
they have received during the last three centuries.
It will be seen further along that the English mer-
chants here do not agree with my idea in the very
least.

The plot of the " Brotherhood of Human Blood-
hounds " to massacre all the Americans in Manila
last week, which was frustrated by the vigilance of
General E. S. Otis, is now believed to have been
planned by the Tagal natives. Three men were
told off to finish each American officer, but, being
forewarned, the danger was slight.

These human bloodhounds are the lowest order
of the Tagalos. They have the keenness of scent
of animals, and are bound together by a " blood
brotherhood." This is a secret society known as
the Katipunan.

The peculiar acuteness of the Tagalos' scent is so
great that the appearance of the nose itself is some-
what different to that in the rest of the human race,

1 70 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

the nostrils having such power of dilation and ex-
pansion in action that they make long-drawn lines
upon the cheeks, reaching to the eye.

The Katipunan society to which they belong was
organised seven or eight years before the outbreak
of the rebellion against the Spanish — which began
in the Philippines in 1896. It was originally formed
with the intention of resisting the Spanish tax ex-
actions and oppressive local laws.

From this it drifted into a society of immense
power. It included among its members the richest
and most educated of the Mestizos and also a num-
ber of native priests when it commenced its aggres-
sive operations against the Spanish Government,
and the rebellion of 1896 was inaugurated. For
sixteen months the island of Luzon was devastated
by a war which for ferocious cruelties on the part of
the Spaniards and fearful retaliations on the part of
the Filipinos has scarcely ever been equalled.

The ' ' blood brotherhood ' ' mark of the Katipunan
is made generally on the left forearm, though some-
times on the left knee, by a curious knife covered
with symbols of the society.

All who join the Katipunans sign the roll in their
own blood, the third finger of the left hand being
pricked at the tip until the blood runs, and with that
blood they sign. Then, as a sure sign of member-
ship, a vein is opened in the left forearm in such
fashion that the wound will certainly leave a scar,
or else a wound is made in the left breast that will
leave a round scar like a vaccination mark.

The first great plot of the Katipunan society was
to assassinate General Blanco when he was Governor

The " Brotherhood of Blood " 171

of the Philippines. The date set for this was Sep-
tember 15, 1896, and it was planned to take advant-
age of the confusion following his death to slaughter
all the Spaniards, and seize the citadel and the for-
tifications of Manila, with its batteries, arsenal, and
barracks.

One press correspondent has gone to bed dis-
gusted because of my prophecy that there will be
no disturbance of the city during the night. A
steady downpour of rain comes about midnight and
lasts all night. I know that that has ended it for
the time, and so it proves, as morning finds the
town peaceful and quiet. There is nothing like an
application of water for these nations. The New
York Fire Department, if it could be transported
here in working order and full power, would end
this question in the city promptly. In fact, what
fire force they have here will be most effective in
case of a street disturbance.

There are two English newspapers in Manila, The
Times and The Announcer. The latter came out
yesterday and stated that there were four thousand
Spanish prisoners over in the old town that had en-
listed with the insurgents. There were several other
statements not calculated to smooth matters for the

Americans. J of The Times states that had

that notice appeared in his paper it would have
" promptly been held up by the powers that be,"
and that he was called to account because he termed
Aguinaldo's proclamation " hysterical." What does
this mean ? Has the freedom of the press passed
away ? Why is one paper favoured and another
suppressed ? Surely nothing could be more in-

1 72 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

offensive than The Times. I was asked yesterday
if I would carry a package of dispatches to Hong
Kong, as nothing of any importance was allowed
to pass our censors.

Sunday has gone by with no disturbance of the
city's calm. Monday brings two alarms of fire, and
consequently a general call for the entire force.
Even now comes another, and the Escolta is filled
with rushing soldiers in blue and brown, white-clad
Spaniards, dark-skinned Filipinos, slow-going bul-
lock-carts, rapidly moving carriages, and ponies of
all shapes and sizes, all getting out of the path of
supposed danger. In less than half an hour the
entire lot comes back laughing.

As we are about to start for a drive to our out-
posts, where I fancy we shall find a very wet lot of
boys, judging by last night's rain, we witness a
scene between a Spanish officer and a Tagalo which
is strongly indicative of the feelings between the
races. The officer was walking quietly along when
the Tagalo suddenly spat in his face. A fight
quickly ensued which brought our sentry promptly
to the spot. When he fully understood the cause
of the disturbance he handed his gun to the Span-
iard, and, taking the latter's cane, gave the Tagalo
a sound thrashing, which was not lessened in its
thoroughness by our applause.

Personally I have experienced but one act of
hostility from the Spaniards since my arrival. It
occurred this morning as I was standing on the curb
enjoying the ever-changing panorama of the Escolta.
An officer in passing suddenly jabbed me in the ribs
with such force as almost to throw me into the street.

The " Brotherhood of Blood" 173

I think he thought that I was one of his own race, as
I am somewhat swarthy, and was dressed in white
with a broad-brimmed hat; but, if so, my remarks
in the American tongue and American accent
promptly undeceived him, and the expression of
his face changed to terror as he saw me speak to
one of our sentries, to whom I related the incident,
at the same time refusing, to the sentry's disgust,
to point out the man. He had been punished
enough, to judge from his scared face fleeing up the
street before us. As we passed along I asked one
man — from Dakota — if he expected to be assassin-
ated, but he answered, " There are not enough
niggers in the islands to kill us off." Perhaps not,
if it were a fair, open fight.

Many ladies have taken refuge on the ships in the
harbour, and if matters grow really serious many

more of them will go to the fort. Colonel F

invites me to make the move, but this hotel is safe
enough, and one sees everything here on the Escolta.

CHAPTER XX-

TRIBES OF THE ISLANDS — PHILIPPINE LEADERS

Origin of the Filipinos — The Negritos — The Gaddanes — The Head-
Hunters — The Fire Tree — Our Men in this Climate — Spain and
the Hill Tribes— The Tagalos— Their Love of Dress— Native
Costume — Aguinaldo and his Associates — Their Robbery of the
People — Their Condition and Desires — Their Characters — Chi-
nese " Houses of Pleasure " — The Dishonesty of the People —
The Impossibility of a Protectorate over these People — Position
of the United States— Our Knowledge of the Outer World.

THE origin of the peoples of these islands is a
matter of dispute. Chili, Peru, and Malaysia
are all mentioned as their cradles. The Negritos
are found in all parts of the archipelago. Foreman
says that they are cowardly and will only attack a
retreating foe, or from behind safe defences. That
seems to be a characteristic of all these peoples.
The Negritos are wonderfully swift runners; they
are spirit-worshippers; they respect age and the
dead, and in the latter characteristic are certainly
the superior of the Tagalos. They possess little or
no intellect. They always live in the mountains,
and, like the blacks of Australia, their natural in-
stincts force them at times to return to their old
lives and pursuits, no matter how long they may

Tribes of the Islands 175

have dwelled amidst civilised people, or how much
care has been taken with their education.

The Gaddanes in the northern end of Luzon are
the most ferocious tribe on the island. No attempt
has been made to civilise or even subdue them.
They are the head- or scalp-hunters, and a bride-
groom always presents his father-in-law with all
such trophies that he can capture. When the " fire
tree" blooms they go on the war-path, celebrate
certain rites, and it will be well to be absent at that
period. With the arrow and lance they can accom-
plish wonders. Have we a William Penn in our
land who can reach and affect these people ? If we
try subjugation, we shall once more pass through a
period like that in our own land from 1620 to the
present day, and our men cannot endure this climate
as our race has done that of America throughout the
long period of our struggle with the Indians. Save
when on the war-path, these people are lazy and
indolent.

Spain has never in any way conquered these
islands, though she has possessed more power in
Luzon than elsewhere. On one island, Mindanao,
a sultan holds supreme authority, merely paying a
small tribute to Spain. On another she has held
a few coast towns, while all the interior was given
over to savages — savages worshipping the sun,
wood, and stone. In the northern end of Luzon,
even the insurgents will not travel in parties of less
than twenty, for fear of the Negritos and head-
hunters, of which there are from sixty to eighty
thousand. These tribes have never known anything
about Spain or any other nation outside of their own

1 76 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

race, yet they are probably as well qualified to be-
come enfranchised Americans as are many of the
immigrants that are annually landed in New York.

Had England found in the Maoris of New Zealand
such a race as any of these, her story to-day would
have been far different in that island, and her only
hope would have been extermination. She has had
no success with the blacks of Australia, who are fast
dying out. Her conquest of India was over races
that could scarcely be considered barbarous, and that
were far from savages. We may call them heathen,
but races that can produce the Taj Mahal, the
mosques of Delhi and of Agra, the temples at Tanjore
and Rameswaram, cannot be called even barbarous.
These mountain tribes are savages like our own, and
worse, and our success with our home product has
not been much to be proud of. The Tagalos, who
claim to be the patriots, and with whom we are at
war, are but one race among many. They are
about up to the average Malay races in stature, but
are rather inferior as to intellect. Certainly they
are not to be compared mentally to the Maoris of
New Zealand.

It would seem that a love of dress is not, under
all circumstances, undesirable, as, in the case of
these Tagalos, the market for European goods, such
as hats and shoes, is larger than in all British and
Dutch East India. One's servant is often better
shod and covered than one's self. He will not wear
shoes of English make — they are too heavy and
coarse. Those from Vienna please him better.

The costume of the men consists of a pair of
trousers and a shirt, the latter being made out of a

TAQAL WOMAN, MANILA.

Tribes of the Islands 177

thin gauze material, perfectly transparent, and often
embroidered. The dress of the women is more dis-
tinctly national, and is very picturesque. They
wear no stockings, but thrust the bare feet into a
pair of high-heel pattens with wooden soles and
velvet tips. There is nothing to hold them on save
these tips, yet the wearers move along swiftly and
in a stately fashion. The rest of the costume seems
composed of a white undergarment, low-necked and
short-sleeved, a full skirt of calico or silk, sometimes
with a train, be the wearer ever so youthful, over
which is worn a long black silk apron, which crosses
behind. The most distinctive garment, however, is
the low-necked jacket which falls short of the belt,
and has wide, full, but short, elbow sleeves. A
white kerchief is often worn around the neck, and
the hair is neatly twisted on the head. They look
clean, yet from the toilet scenes which one con-
stantly witnesses, one is forced to the conclusion
that it is but an appearance.

Notwithstanding the instructions of the friars, the
natives resemble the Burmese in their belief as to
the wandering of a soul from a sleeping body, and
hence their dislike to awaken anyone. " The soul
might not return." The Tagalo feigns friendship,
but has no loyalty, and is a remarkable combination
of virtues and vice.

Aguinaldo is a full-blooded Tagalo of about
twenty-six years of age, medium in stature, with
short, thick, black hair worn pompadour. Some
consider him sharp and shrewd, but it is generally
believed that he has his price, though it would be a
large one. It is also claimed that he is swayed in

1 78 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

all directions by the different parties, all of which
have their own schemes to work out, and any one
of which will sell out the others.

They have already enriched themselves at the
expense of their people, and boast thereof. Of
course they cannot hope to retain these ill-gotten
gains if we hold the islands. The people would
give us but little trouble, but these self-styled pa-
triots, self-appointed rulers, will be content with
but one condition of affairs: First, that the Ameri-
can Government shall supply a chain of war-ships
around the islands to keep off all outside interfer-
ence. Second, that the entire management of the
islands be placed in the hands of this gang of men,
especially all offices that enable them to carry out
the methods they have learned from three centuries
of Spanish teaching. They desire particularly the
power to coin money — for themselves. As is always
the case, they would be more intolerant of the
people, from whose ranks they have so lately risen,
than were the Spaniards. What character of men
they are will be more fully understood when it is
known that Aguinaldo, in the proclamation of his
constitution, announced that his government would
"license the Chinese houses of pleasure." To the un-
initiated this sounds innocent enough, yet through
such " pleasures " came the destruction of Sodom
and Gomorrah.

It would be difficult to find anyone in Manila
who believes in the patriotism of these Tagalos.
Money will buy the leaders at any time. As for the
masses, they are lazy and dishonest; they will lie
and steal to the very last. The manager of one of

8 ,

Tribes of the Islands 179

the large banks told me that he caught a boy steal-
ing some gold and took the money from his hand,
yet the fellow denied having touched it. Moral
suasion was tried to induce him to tell why he had
stolen it, but he again denied the theft, and, upon
being flogged, remarked, " Why do you whip me
for what I did not do ? " Perhaps under different
training these people might to-day show different
results ; perhaps the training they have received is
the direct cause of these results. However that
may be, such are the results, and it is rather weari-
some to those who have been out here, and who
know the true characters of these people, to listen
to the sentimental and ignorant twaddle at some of
the meetings at home concerning the " struggling
patriotism " which we are condemned for suppress-
ing, and to hear these corrupt and degraded leaders
compared to Kossuth.

It has been announced in our Senate that we will
merely " extend a protectorate over the Philippine
Islands until their people should become able to
govern themselves. ' ' From our Anglo-Saxon stand-
point, when will that be ? Will we consent to a
continuance of the manners and customs of Old
Spain, or rather to an exaggeration of those manners
and customs? — for such it would be! It is easy
enough to contract a bad habit, but it is quite
another matter to overcome it. I fear it will be
somewhat longer than three hundred years before
we can consider these people " fit to govern them-
selves," and the same will hold true in Cuba. And
Santo Domingo and Hayti must also come under
our dominion, A state of barbarity exists there

i8o Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

which would rival any to be found in darkest
Africa.

If the United States had desired to give up these
islands, or rather not to take them, she should have
left them in Spanish hands. We cannot return
them to that kingdom. We cannot surrender them
to any other nation, even to England, although we
might be willing to do so to her. We certainly
cannot in common decency and humanity abandon
them to the natives, knowing that an awful state of
anarchy would ensue. As I have before stated,
the so-called rulers, corrupt in every way, would
promptly make cause with the worst class of the
friars, who could no more be drawn off than a vul-
ture from the " Towers of Silence." The result
would be chaos.

If, however, those two powers should fail, the
people would, in very short order, return to a state
of barbarity, and we should have the reproach of
the whole world. Whether we like it or not we
have put our hand to the plough, or the handles
thereof have been placed in our hands by a Higher
Power, and we must perform the allotted task ; and
surely there are none in America willing to acknow-
ledge that we are not capable of doing so. We
must learn — but we can learn.

There are some examples to be avoided, notably
that of Holland. Through selfishness, she has built
a wall, so to speak, around her possessions in the
East, and does not desire them to hold intercourse
with the outer world save through herself. The
Dutch cities of Java are beautiful to look upon, but
the government is hidebound and provincial. It has

Tribes of the Islands 181

changed little since the days of the famous Dutch
East India Company, when it was death to trade
with any save the Dutch in the four great spices. The
progress of the nineteenth century has alone caused
her to modify that at all. One cannot but regret
that England exchanged those islands for Ceylon.
She might have known that Ceylon would come to
her under any circumstances, and the condition of
affairs in Java and Sumatra would be far different if
the English flag floated there to-day, while the
world would not be in such comparative ignorance
concerning them as we find it.

Our people should attempt to in some degree ap-
preciate the work other nations are doing in the
outer world, and thereby fully understand the place
America must take, the work she must do, and her
duty to the rest of mankind, unless she means to
build a wall around herself for all time, unless she
means to lead a purely selfish life, and thereby be-
come the laughing-stock of the nations, while she
lays herself open to just contempt.

CHAPTER XXI

TRADE IN THE PHILIPPINES

Siege by the British — Return to Savage Instincts — Unable to Govern
Themselves — Spain's Dealing with the People — Smuggling in
Money — The Mexican Dollar — English Opinion of the Islands
— Mountains and Rivers — Effect of Railways — Dissatisfaction
over our Tariff — English Clubs — English Advice and Opinion
of the Tagalos.

THE successful siege of Manila by the British in
1762 needs no further mention. The fierce
quarrels which followed their evacuation of that city
would be enacted to-day if we were to surrender to
the natives — quarrels which ended only after great
loss of life. There seems to have been a constant
succession of rebellions down to the present time.
Foreman, in his most interesting book, The Philip-
pine Islands, states that had these rebellions suc-
ceeded they would have produced " a state of
protracted anarchy, intensified by the return of the
wayward natives to their savage instincts, for they
are far from being able to govern themselves on any
civilised plan."

The government and local administration have
cost some $350,000 per annum, of which $40,000
went to the Governor-General ; but that was but a

182

Trade in the Philippines 183

drop in the bucket that each sent away, pressed
down and running over. There have been honest
governors in these islands, but they have been few
and far between, and their lives have not been
happy. I am told by one who has lived in Manila
for twelve years that in all that time he has never
met a Spanish official who could speak the native
tongue. These officials never remained longer than
three years, and rarely so long, and made no at-
tempt to learn the language, nor did they take any
interest in the natives save to rob and debauch
them.

Spain's manner of dealing with the half-castes
was in marked distinction to that of Holland in the
East. The latter Government, after educating this
race, gave them the opportunity to utilise that edu-
cation by means of the many positions and offices
of the land. But not so with Spain. She estab-
lished colleges and schools, gave a certain education,
but there it stopped, and the half-castes and natives
were not allowed to occupy any of the governmental
offices. Every post and position which was worth
a dollar was given only to Spaniards. Of course,
this produced discontent and, in the end, rebellion.

Hard times came in Manila with the depreciation
of silver. Up to that time gold had been more
plentiful than the white metal. The Mexican dol-
lar— worth about fifty cents — was introduced, and
the Government, desiring to stop this, instead of
declaring that it would not be a legal tender, at-
tempted to prohibit its importation. Of course, the
people at once took to smuggling the white metal.
If discovered, the smuggler lost a quarter of his

1 84 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

holdings, the other three quarters being returned to
him on the ship and sent out of the country. It is
unnecessary to state that the high officials who had
nothing to do with the detection got the lion's share
of that " quarter," while the Government got
nothing, and the actual detective little more. This
could end in but one way: the detection ceased,
and the detectives went into the business in partner-
ship with the ship's captain. Then the Government
declared that only the coins — Mexican — prior to a
certain date would be accepted as legal tender. At
once an immense and profitable business in old
coins began. At Hong Kong and Singapore every
ship brought in a lot, and ten and fifteen per cent,
was cleared in a day or so on these transactions.
All of the officials joined in, and the Spanish con-
sul at Singapore was in the habit of sending a hun-
dred dollars over by every ship, a favour in which
the captain must oblige him, or stand the chances
of being injured through the papers, etc.

Through all this, poor Spain slept on and on, and
if questioned put it all off to maftana, that fatal day
for the old empire, and again slept on and on, while
her children cut her throat and sucked out her life-
blood.

The English here hold that these islands are of
the greatest value as to trade, that they produce
almost everything needful, but as yet they have
scarcely been scratched, so to speak. Coal is found
in great abundance, and it is supposed that the
precious metals abound.

The real wealth, however, is drawn from the raw
materials obtained by agriculture and forest produce.

Trade in the Philippines 185

Cigars are manufactured in large quantities, but
some claim that they do not stand a long voyage,
and would not be fresh in America. It is also said
that they are not well made. So far, sugar and
hemp appear to be the greatest staples of the
islands. Coffee is not produced on a very extensive
scale. There is but one crop a year, while in the
West Indies the berry may be gathered during
eight months of the year. Tobacco was brought
here from Mexico in the earliest days by the priests.
It has been a Government monopoly in the island
of Luzon, but does not appear to have been so in
the other islands of the archipelago.

The climate of Luzon is only semi-tropical, as the
foliage testifies. In the neighbourhood of Manila
there are mountains of eight thousand feet in alti-
tude, upon which all climates may be found, and
there delightful houses and sanitariums could be
built. The island of Luzon has one river of great
size — the Rio Grande, which flows from the south
to the north, and must be at least two hundred
miles in length. The volume of water is very great.

In the Philippines the building of those great
civilisers, the railways, should be pushed to the
utmost. Their construction will, more than any-
thing else, tend to open up the country and settle
the disputed points, and in their construction we
can use Chinese labour. It is the general opinion
among business men in Manila that we would be
wise to do so. There are plenty of that race now
here, and they can endure the climate and will work,
whereas labourers from our country cannot endure
the climate, and the natives will not work. The

1 86 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

English merchants in Manila are becoming very dis-
satisfied with the present condition of trade. They
claim that it is much worse than when the Spaniards
had control, for then the wheels did move, though
bribery was often necessary. Still the amounts de-
manded were nothing when compared with the duties
exacted by our laws, and which have completely
paralysed all business, and will, they claim, if con-
tinued, end in the undoing of Manila.

At present the American Government holds only
this city, which does not represent Luzon by a large
majority. All of the rest of the island is in the
hands of the insurgents, who carry out the old
Spanish customs. Naturally this will end in busi-
ness seeking those outlets and inlets. It is inter-
esting to listen to the conversation at the Tiffin
Club and the English Club, which are frequented
by all the bankers and business men of the city. I
asked one of them what England would have done
if in our place.

' Taken all the ports at least, and at once, for
only thereby can you control the trade. The con-
quest of the rest of the islands could be left to time.
But your idea that the return of business prosper-
ity, and a possible increase of money to the nation,
would, in any way, influence these Tagalos, is not
correct. They are too idle and lazy, and care abso-
lutely nothing about money, or the things money
can buy. A poor man in England will have some
few household goods, which will force him to have
an abiding-place, but these people own nothing,
absolutely nothing, save a change of clothing, and
not always or often that much. Their houses are

Trade in the Philippines 187

devoid of all furniture; they sleep on mats, which
being rolled around their clothes can be carried on
a man's head, and the family is ready to move.
Where to, is a matter which concerns them not at
all. Any shelter will answer. As for food, they
live on rice, bananas, and dried fish ; the first two
items cost nothing at all, and the last a mere song.
They have no ambition, they beat their women,
and offer their daughters to any white man for a
small sum. Indeed such a relation is considered
an honour to the girl, especially if it results in
a child which will be whiter than herself. Their
only redeeming trait is a faithfulness after mar-
riage, and short shrift would the woman or her
lover receive if discovered. Their knives are long
and sharp."

I had to confess that we knew nothing at all
about colonisation, and was promptly asked why
then we did not ask England to help us — that was
a thing " she could do, and was very willing to do.
She has a large colonial force of clerks, etc., also
higher officers, who understand this work through
years of experience. She has native soldiers, from
her colonies, accustomed to these climates, and
policemen in the habit of dealing with Asiatics.
She could carry on the whole matter for a few
years, or until the United States was ready for the
work, when she would hand back the islands for
your guidance. The resources of the Philippines
are enormous, yet not even a fraction thereof has
been developed. The English know all this, and
your people should know it, but it is terrible for us
to have business interests choked and at a stand-

1 88 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

still, and this will continue as long as your tariff is
applied here."

It is very evident that England would be de-
lighted to obtain possession of these islands, and no
doubt would gladly exchange her West Indies for
them. Those islands would, of course, be infinitely
less care to us, but, from a trade standpoint, are not
to be compared to the Philippines. If we make the
trade, let us do so with full comprehension.

CHAPTER XXII

CAVITE

Impossible to Travel through the Islands — Courtesy of Admiral
Dewey — His Appearance and Character — Manila Bay — Our
Fleet — The Spanish Ships — Cavite — Fortress and Arsenal — Its
Appearance — Desecrated Churches — Ruined Alameda — Forts of
the Town — End of the Spanish Empire— The Pageant of Cen-
turies— Spain's Present Condition and Opportunities — Depart-
ure on the Zaf.ro — Island of Corregidor — The Southern Cross
— Spanish Prizes — Hong Kong — -Affected by the War — China
the Coming Country — Old Shanghai and its Horrors.

IT is with great regret that I leave Manila without
having travelled through the islands, but in the
present state of unrest it is not possible. Our own
authorities can offer no protection and do not want
travellers to go, and I cannot but appreciate their
reasons, and bow to their decision. If known as an
American, I should probably be imprisoned or
killed, all of which would make trouble. It might
be possible to go if I were willing to pass as an Eng-
lishman, but pride alone would prevent an American
in Manila from sailing under any colours save his
own.

It is certainly the proper thing to say farewell to
the city from the midst of Admiral Dewey's fleet.
Thanks to the courtesy of the Admiral, I am leaving

189

1 90 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

on the Government ship Zafiro, which is used as a
dispatch-boat between here and Hong Kong, and
have been requested to be at the custom-house dock
at 1 1 A.M., in order to be taken on board. As I
pass to the wharf, the launch of the Admiral steams
up and he comes out of the door just behind me.

Admiral Dewey seems to possess the quality
which made the first Napoleon great, i. e., the
ability to move while his enemies are yet thinking.
He is a much better-looking man than his portraits
would lead one to expect. His face is delicate and
refined, but full of strength. His dark eyes express
great determination, and his firm chin carries out
the expression. I was strongly reminded as I looked
at him of those words in Whittier's Snow-Bound:
" A prompt, decisive man, no breath our father
wasted : ' Boys, a path ! ' I for one cannot but
think, with all due consideration for the present
Governor of Manila, that if Admiral Dewey had
been appointed to that post, there would long since
have been made " a path " to that goal from which
we seem afar off just now. The Admiral, how-
ever, is one of the President's new board in these
islands, and his influence will undoubtedly be
strongly felt.

We did not see the great bay of Manila on our
way in, as we arrived at early dawn ; but leaving
now at ii A.M., we have full sight of it on the way
out, and a beautiful vision it is with its shores
sweeping north and south in magnificent circles,
its waters sparkling under a brilliant sun. The bay
is as large as Port Philip in Australia, and the
scenery is far more beautiful, as it is bordered by

Cavite 191

mountains from four to seven thousand five hundred
feet in height, Mount Ararat to the north being
somewhat higher than our Mount Washington.

As to exact size, the surveys show the bay to be
some forty miles from north to south, and twenty-
seven from Manila to the island of Corregidor,
which blocks its entrance ; and save for the channels
on either side of this island, it is completely land-
locked, and would furnish refuge for all the ship-
ping of the world.

The old city glows with a rosy light as our ship
steams westward. Behind the country is green and
beautiful, and far inland the mountains rise a dark
blue mass against a darker sky.

Cavite is reached either in a small tug or in the
Government launch, but it is more interesting to go
in the latter, as it carries the mails to all of the
fleet. The bay is full of transports — but no flag is
to be seen save our own, except on the Spanish
steamers, where the red and yellow looks very lonely.
We first reach our man-of-war Concord, then the flag-
ship Olympia, then the Charleston and the Boston,
and, finally, the two monitors Monterey and Monad-
nock ; all have steam up, all are painted grey and
are very warlike in appearance. Yonder are several
merchantmen at anchor, and one full-rigged ship,
the Vigilant of Boston. There are, also, several
Spanish men-o'-war, all out of commission just at
present, and likely to remain so. There could have
been very little water beneath their keels when they
sank, as even now boats on their davits would not
touch the surface line. Four wrecks lie near Cavite
Point, and one or two farther out. Three ships

192 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

have been raised and are now at Hong Kong, and
two more are here.

The fortress, arsenal, and town of Cavite are on
an island, connected by a causeway with the main-
land ; but to-day, on account of threatened troubles,
no one is allowed to pass beyond the causeway.

Our officers say that for several days the natives
have been leaving this town, and Manila as well.
Looking backward towards that city, we see that
the whole valley behind it is clouded with the
smoke of many fires. What it means no one can
yet tell, but all the troops and war-ships are under
orders to be prepared to act at a moment's notice.

On approaching Cavite, a small fort is noticed on
its extreme point, with the muzzles of several can-
non projecting over the top, and several more can
be discovered turned topsy-turvy. This enclosure
is a small one, with antiquated walls, and it could
not have made any great show of resistance. Back
of the arsenal are the workshops, officers' quarters,
and parade-ground, while along the open sea to the
right stretch the long line of the defences.

But first we visit the old city, leaving the forts for
our return trip. It is a melancholy, out-of-the-way
sort of a place, which, since the destruction by the
insurgents, presents a scene of utter desolation.
The long narrow streets, bordered by the usual two-
storied houses, stretch away, empty and deserted,
save by our soldiers and a handful of natives, to the
public squares. American voices and language fur-
nish the only sounds of life which greet our ears.
A church on the public square stands rifled and
desecrated, and of the five sacred edifices of the

Cavite 193

town, all save one are in the same condition ; that
one is still used for sacred purposes. Near the
Alameda stands the cathedral, outwardly as it has
stood for three centuries, but within it is empty
and wretched. The altar is destroyed, the cloisters
are a mass of ruins, and with the exception of some
general who still rests, as he has rested for two
hundred and fifty years, under his marble slab be-
fore the eastern portal of the church, even the
graves have been dug up and their contents thrown
to the winds of heaven. All this destruction was
wrought by the insurgents.

Throughout the ruins of this once crowded place
of rest and prayer we are the only living things,
and the echo of our footsteps takes on an almost
sobbing tone as they die away into silence. Passing
into the Alameda, which stretches by the sea, deso-
lation again prevails. Trees are torn and broken as
though a tempest had passed by, the band-stand is
a ruin, the houses are closed and in decay, and a
marble statue, " a Cristobal Colon," erected only a
few years since, stands headless and tottering to its
fall.

From the Alameda toward the Point extend the
main fortifications. They are constructed of a por-
ous stone into which the cannon-balls sink like
water into a sponge, shattering little or not at all.
Every here and there are bastions where cannon
should have been put, but were not. On the inner
side are the barracks and storehouses, and at one
end is a somewhat more pretentious bit of fortifica-
tion, but it has no strength to withstand modern

ordnance, and it would appear that in so far as the
13

194 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

immediate fortifications of the town are concerned,
the destruction by time has been much greater than
by the guns of our fleet. At least, it is difficult to
discern which is which.

Looking seaward, the Spanish flag-ship, sunken
and wrecked, is the first object which strikes the
eye. One funnel still stands erect, the other is half
overturned, the destruction of the craft being so
complete that it would be useless to attempt to raise
and repair it. Here and there are the other Spanish
ships in like condition, and off beyond them rides
our fleet, presenting an entirely uninjured appear-
ance, a gigantic appearance when compared to the
greatest of those of Spain. I really believe that the
Olympia, alone and unaided, could have performed
the entire task of destruction.

So the end has come — the sunken wrecks here at
Cavite and outside of Santiago mark the close of
the ancient power of Spain. The mind must be
dead indeed that will not travel backward into the
past as it contemplates the scenes of all this un-
doing. How the panorama of the past unrolls itself
as one gazes on the placid waters of Manila Bay,
where rests this portion of the last of the empire's
fleets! The pageant of the centuries moving across
one's mental vision causes one's thoughts, travelling
eastward, to pause an instant at the name of Pizarro,
and the conquest of the Incas and South America;
causes the mind to linger in the City of Mexico,
calling up the sights that Cortez witnessed — the high
" teocalli " with their human sacrifices, Montezuma
and his fantastic pageants, all swept away in the
waves of blood which followed the advent of the

Cavite 195

Cross of Christ. Eastward yet, one's fancy wanders
to Cuba and that fair circle of isles of the sea that
saw Spain's first adventurers to those western lands,
eastward again until the vast empire of Charles V.
stands forth on the pages of history. Then Spain
ruled the world. But even then the tide had
turned — even then the Inquisition, by its utter dis-
regard of all the rights of men, had signed her death-
warrant.

The brilliant reign of Charles V. was the culmina-
tion of Spain's glory and power. After his death
came the long struggle with the " Low Countries "
and their final independence, which left Spain
financially exhausted and shorn of some of her
richest possessions. The expulsion of the Moors
in 1610, which drove half a million of her best crafts-
men with their arts and industries from the land, was
another serious blow to her prosperity. If Spain
had had enlightened and progressive rulers, her
future would have been far different ; but fate willed
it otherwise. The disciples of Torquemada ruined
the land itself, Drake swept the great Armada from
the ocean. Philip died broken-hearted in the
gloomy Escorial, tortured by remorse for the young
Don Carlos and the beautiful Elizabeth of France —
died by a death more horrible than any invented
by his Inquisition ; and thereafter the kingdom lost
more and more of her splendour and of her colonies.

As the years passed on, all in North and South
America and Mexico were lost to her, and all of the
islands of the seas save Cuba, Porto Rico, and these
Philippines, and now the youngest nation on earth
has taken those from her, and her day is done. The

196 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

corruption of centuries has met its just reward.
The panorama has rolled away, the curtain has
fallen forever on the ancient empire; if, however,
there is any honesty of purpose, any desire for en-
lightenment and progress, her rulers may yet make
a nation out of what is left. But they must change
her record. It must no longer show that eleven
millions out of eighteen millions of her own home
people cannot read or write. All the world wishes
her well, but she must awaken to the fact that this
is the nineteenth century, and that the Dark Ages,
with their manners and customs, their tortures, op-
pression, and bloodshed, are gone forever. The
waters of the bay breaking around the wrecks and
on the beach beneath this old fortress seem to mur-
mur, " Forever, forever." The brilliant Stars and
Stripes on yonder Olympia, and the bright red
banner on the English man-o'-war, proclaim in
louder tones, " Forever and forever."

Is it possible that a sight of their lurid banner can
raise in the breasts of the Spaniards any such feeling
as the people of England or America experience
when they greet their flags ? Can they in any de-
gree appreciate the German word " Fatherland " ?
The crimson and gold of their national emblem has
meant to the masses the sacrifice of millions of
their brethren in foreign wars, meant the power of
the classes to oppress the people, meant the utter
absence of all right or justice to the latter — there-
fore, how can they love it as we do ours ?

A wild shriek from the Zafiro 's whistle warns us
that we must get on board. Ships and men move
with promptness in the Philippines nowadays. Our

Cavite 197

ship's anchor is hoisted and we are under way be-
fore we can mount the companionway, and she
does not pause even to salute the Olympia, though
the Admiral is plainly visible on the quarter-deck.
The waters are as placid as a mirror, reflecting each
vessel and wreck and launch ; even the flags are per-
fectly repeated until the waves produced by our
craft turn the phantom banners into a blurred mass.
Manila glows with a rosy light at the foot of her en-
circling mountains, while to the westward rise the
dark masses of Corregidor, under whose cliffs we
pass as we make for open sea.

This island of Corregidor will in time be the great
pleasure and seaside resort of Manila. The top of
its lighthouse rises six hundred and thirty feet above
the sea, and when Manila is sweltering Corregidor
is always cool and delightful.

Back in the seventeenth century a girl of seven-
teen years, who had taken the veil in the Santa
Clara Convent, responded to the love-making of a
Franciscan monk. An elopement followed, which
of course created great scandal. They were pursued
and finally found in a sad condition on Camaya.
The friar had been nearly killed in his attempts to
protect the maiden from the natives, who admired
her as much as he did, and considered him selfish.
They were captured by an alderman and his staff
who had pursued them from Manila, the friar being
sent off to teach morality to the Visaya tribes, the
maiden to perpetual imprisonment in some convent
in Mexico ; and one cannot but wonder whether that
poor body once immured in the walls of the convent
of Santo Domingo, and now to be seen in the Na-

198 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

tional Museum in that city, was not this romantic
and unfortunate maiden. This elopement gave the
name to Corregidor (alderman) and the rocks to
the right and left of it, Fraile (friar) and Monja
(nun), while the refuge is called after the girl —
Marivelas.

With one last glance towards the lights of Corregi-
dor, we turn away from Manila, but even as we do
so, the clouds separate above the harbour, and the
gleaming constellation of the Southern Cross sails
high in the heavens, a constellation usually as coy
as a beautiful maiden, and not often revealed in its
full glory, but when it does stand forth with its at-
tendant pointers upon the deep, dark background
of the southern sky, it is magnificent, and in such
guise we leave it on guard over these new posses-
sions of ours — leave it with the hope that it may
bring them greater peace than the Christian Cross
has done ; but the Christian Cross yet abides and is
served by other disciples.

Two naval officers are the only other passengers
on this ship. There is no cargo, and before we turn
in, the restless China Sea has seized upon the craft
and commenced to toss it to and fro. For three
days it reels onward like a drunken man, and our
state the while is not a happy one ; but all things
have an ending, and Sunday finds us in Hong Kong
just in season to board the English mail for the
north. I am taken ashore in a launch whose owner
declines any payment because " your people have
left so much money here as it is."

I have but a few hours to spare here before the
Ballaarat sails for Shanghai, and employ the time

Cavite 199

in a visit to the Spanish ships which we have raised
and sent over for repairs — the Isla de Cuba, Isla de
Luzon, and the Don Juan de Austria. It is said
that one hundred thousand dollars will put these
ships in good order and make them very service-
able, but they are sorry-looking sights now, and, to
the uninitiated, appear scarcely worth the trouble
and expense. Six months at the bottom of the sea
(they were burned by the Spaniards) has reduced
them to a mass of rusty metal thickly covered with
barnacles. That they could cross the tempestuous
China Sea under their own steam is a marvel, and
speaks much for their construction and worth.

Hong Kong is an evidence that this section of
the world is on a forward march of great importance.
In the nine years which have elapsed since I was
here last the city has improved most markedly.
Whole sections have been reclaimed from the bay,
and now stand covered with blocks of stately build-
ings, and her business is vastly greater, and still on
the increase. That affair in Manila has left millions
of dollars here, and a real opening up of those islands
means millions more.

China is the objective point in the business world
at present, and Shanghai, so it is prophesied, will
be the London of Asia. The new railway syndicates
are centred there, and with the awakening of that
nation a change will come over this part of the
world. Mr. L. H., who has the mining rights in
Corea, asserts that within three years steamships
will be running directly between Shanghai and San
Francisco, ' leaving Japan entirely out in the
cold." China is the coming country for business.

200 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

Go there if you would make a fortune — and yet
what a people they are! How one dreads their
advance as one would that of a pestilence ! Under
foreign influence they can become a clean and attract-
ive nation — witness the Chinese section of Euro-
pean Shanghai, where are to be found clean streets
and houses, gay signs and much gilding, sweet-
scented tea-houses and concert-halls, and clean
working people.

But let us leave all this brilliancy. Pass beyond
the French concession to where old Shanghai stands
in all its hoary antiquity. You will be deposited by
your rickshaw boy at one of its many gates, will
pause a moment to gaze at its grimy embattle-
mented wall, and then, gathering your clothing well
up and around you, you will enter the city under
an archway dripping with foul ooze and slime, and
over a moat whose vileness cannot be described.

Nothing save a sedan-chair can pass through these
narrow streets, so narrow that when two chairs
meet one must be taken into a shop. We journey
for hours on foot, and shall go away, if not wiser,
certainly very much sadder.

Here we see the people of this ancient race dwell-
ing as they have dwelt for centuries. The little
shops are dingy but interesting, and the shopmen
seem of a kindly disposition. This is the sunny side
of old Shanghai, but at any moment, and it would
seem at all moments, one is likely to meet with
such sights and sounds of woe and horror that in-
stant flight to where such things are not becomes
necessary.

.Yonder, for instance, down in the black ooze and

Cavite

201

slime of that dark and dismal corner, is a human
being such as we are — a man in full prime, who
moans and sobs and beats his head into the mud
and against the stones. It is bitterly cold, and his
clothing is thin and ragged, and where parts of it
are dragged away from his limbs he is seen to be
alive with black small-pox. There is a God some-
where who may know why such things are necessary,
but He does not tell us.

Let us drop the curtain on old Shanghai.

CHAPTER XXIII

LOOKING BACKWARD

Present State of Japan — Effect of the Chinese War — Fear of the For-
eign Residents — Eastern Races versus the American Negro —
Scene in Florida — Japanese Application of Western Civilisa--*
tion — Their Steamships — The Chinese Prisoners — Fair Play
Unknown — Filipinos Compared to Japanese.

JAPAN stands to-day at the portals of a new life.
During the coming summer she will be acknow-
ledged by the great nations as an equal, and will
enter upon a most critical period in her national
existence. How will she handle herself ? Will she
select the road to comparative peace, or will she
imitate her powerful neighbour — Russia ?

No nation holds more friendly feelings towards
the " land of the morning" and its people than
America, and much that I shall note is in direct
opposition to the generally accepted ideas of our
people concerning that nation, but travellers in
those islands to-day will generally agree with what
I shall state. They will each and all of them ex-
press their doubts — grave doubts — as to the outcome
of the near future. Passing along, one must note
many things which will not produce a favourable

202

Looking Backward 203

impression. The treatment of the people by the
police savours more of the absolute unreasoning
power of Russia than of that to which Americans
are accustomed from those servants of the law in
their own land. Those of my readers who have
visited Russia will understand how much this por-
tends. As for the people, if a man is so unfort-
unate as to come into actual conflict with any of
them, their manner of attack will confirm his opinion
that the race is far from civilised.

One is struck with the idea that Japan is in a
comatose state just now. Yokohama has not im-
proved at all in ten years, and the English and
Americans look forward with growing forebodings
to July next, when that city will pass under Japanese
rule, the very prospect of which, they say, has
blighted all the treaty ports. It is not believed
that the war with China will benefit Japan in the
end. It has made her people most ridiculously
conceited — they are firmly convinced that they
know everything and can learn nothing further, en-
tirely forgetting that " if we do not advance, we
must decline — we starve in the possessed." I am
told that foreigners who can sell their property in
the islands are fast doing so. They are each and
all very emphatic in their denunciation of the Japan-
ese character. " Neither his word nor his bond is
of any value, whereas, once a Chinaman gives his
word, it is as good as his bond — both are good."
As to the honesty of the Chinese race at large, — I
do not include those in official life, — the fact that
they are employed in great numbers in the banks
and other places where money is about speaks

204 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

loudly in their favour, but one never sees a Japanese
in such institutions even in Japan.

Will these Eastern nations ever accept civilisation
as our Southern negroes have done ? Will their
lower ranks take any save an apathetic part therein ?
The classes have done so in Japan, but have the
masses ? It does not strike me that they have.

Sitting one day with my sister upon the veranda
of her house in Florida, our attention was attracted
by a comely young black woman who had stopped
in the avenue at the side of the place. She was
neatly dressed in a black gown, and wore a small
black bonnet on her nicely combed hair. Taking a
prayer-book and hymnal from her pocket, she bowed,
and opening the former read a few verses and then
offered a prayer. A chapter from the Bible was
followed by a hymn, she reading a line and then
singing it, until she found we would join in, when
the reading was dropped and the hymn was sung to
a close. Then followed a short but excellent dis-
course on " Love God above all, and thy neighbour
as thyself," which was followed by another hymn
and a benediction. Our contributions were refused,
while she thanked us for the honour we had done
her by our attention, and expressed the hope that
she might be allowed to come again. She moved
away in the sunshine and under the bending boughs
of the blossoming orange trees, while we felt that
our service had been quite equal to any offered to
Almighty God that day in the stately churches of
Christendom. How long will it be before any such
scene will occur amongst these Eastern nations ?

Foreign residents report the outlook in Japan as

Looking Backward 205

gloomy. In most countries a man is deemed inno-
cent until proven guilty, but they say that in Japan
the reverse holds.

If the following incident is true the Japanese
must lack common sense. It was related to me by
the officers of the O. & O. S.S. Gaelic. When the
Japanese new trans-Pacific ships for San Francisco
first came to Yokohama they were provided with a
complete staff of English officers, men who had
certificates from " Lloyd's," which is the highest
authority of this kind in the world, yet these men
were required to go to Tokio and pass examinations
before the Japanese courts. Some did so, but
others refused. They could not be discharged, as
they were engaged for three years; this, however,
did not deter the Japs from placing another staff —
of Japs — on each ship, so that to-day there are two
full staffs of officers. One would imagine that this
would insure good management, prompt obedience
— nothing of the sort. During one of the late voy-
ages the cargo shifted on one of the vessels and the
Jap crew were ordered to replace it, but " declined
to work on the [CHRISTIAN] Sabbath" and only con-
sented to do so after extra payment was offered. It
is needless to add that they were not of our faith
and held no respect for it.

Those in authority in the land are utterly arbi-
trary and senseless in their application of things
taught them by the enlightened nations. For in-
stance, I am told of two Chinese who were lately on
a Japanese steamship going from Seattle to Hong
Kong. The ship stopped a day in Yokohama, but
the Chinamen did not go ashore. A Japanese offi-

206 Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

cial, coming on board, discovered an opium pipe in
the possession of one of the men, whereupon he
turned them over to the police. They were taken
ashore and condemned to twelve months of hard
labour.

Discretion, judgment, and fair play seem unknown
to the race. As their conceit has increased their art
has decreased in merit in like proportion. True,
there are still beautiful objects for sale, but they are
few and far between, and cost more than they would
bring in New York — a state of affairs very different
from that which I encountered in 1890. They are
a people of a different race and certainly of a much
higher degree of civilisation than the Filipinos,
but if such a state of affairs exists with them, what,
think you, would take place in Luzon if we gave the
island over to the Tagals ? Truly the last state
thereof would be worse than the first, for if our
yoke is shaken off, civilisation will die out. The
people must be guided and watched over, while the
quiet influences of just laws, good schools, and pure
teaching of religion are allowed to exert their power,
effecting such a change as the missionaries accom-
plished with the Hawaiians; but the task will prove
more difficult, for we must undo the terrible work
of the last three centuries, must give them religious
teachers — Catholic and Protestant — free from scan-
dal, instructors whom they can respect, — then in
another century, if we are true to this trust which
has been thrust upon us, the world will read a far
different story of the Philippine Islands.

INDEX

Adam's Bridge, i
Agra, 1 6

Aguinaldo, 125, 126, 171, 178
" A-kyan say," the, 89
Alameda, Cavite, 193
Alderman, 198
Alhambra, the, 127, 128
Amarapura, 63, 67, 91
America, North, 29, 44, 195
America, South, 195, 196
Anada Pagoda, 96, 97, 98
Anglo-Indian, 31
Announcer, The, 171
Aracan Pagoda, 91, 92
Ararat, Mt., 191
Archbishop, the, 152, 162
Armada, the, 195
Asia, i
Asiatics, 187

Augustines, the, 152, 156
Australia, 117, 190
Ayoehya, King of, 6

Ballaarat, the, 198
Bangalore, 15, 16, 18, 19
Beato, Signior, 83
Benares, 27

Bengal, Bay of, I, 41, 44
Bhamo, 50, 53, 57, 6q

Black Death, 36

Black Hole, the, 143

Black Town, 37

Blanco, General, 170

Blood brotherhood, 171

Boero Boda, 33

Bombay, 15, 16

Boston, the, 191

Brahma, 4, 7, 13

Brahmin, 5, 6, 42

British, 63

British Empire, 42

Buddha, 34, 53, 70, 73, 76, 77,

78, 79, 80, 82, 92, 96, 98
Buddhas, 97, 101, 104, 105, 106
Buddhism, 8 1
Buddhists, 34, 77, 80, 81, 82, 96,

98

Bunker Hill, 114
Burma, 42, 44, 49, 51, 54, 57, 60,

63, 64, 66, 72, 73, 80, 86
Burmans, 65
Burmese, 69, 70, 76, 87
Burmese life, 86
Burmese women, 84
Butterfly spirit, 75

Camaya, 197

Campos santos, the, 130, 163

207

208

Index

Carlos, Don, 195

Carmen, 121

Catacombs, 130

Cathedral of Manila, 137, 138

Catholic, 206

Catholic mission, 9

Cavite, 117, 191, 192, 193

Cebu, Bishop of, 155

Celestial Empire, 52, 60

Celestials, 63

Cemetery, the Chinese, 120

Ceylon, i, 6

Chapultepec, 112

Charleston, the, 191

Charles V., 119, 195

China, 23, 49, 57, 59, 63, 199

Chinamen, 205

Chinese, 49, 50, 53, 60, 63, i85)

203, 205
Cholera, 44
Christendom, 204
Christian, 205
Christina, Queen, 137
" City of Gems," 63
Cobra, the, 10, 38
Colombo, 2, 8, 10, 23
Comorin, Cape, 36
Concord, 113
Concord, the, 191
Consort, Prince, 114
Coromandel coast, 36
Corregidor, 191, 197, 198
Cortez, 199

"Cristobal Colon," 193
Cross, the Christian, 198
Cross, the Southern, 198
Cuba, 195
Cubans, in

Dandaka, forest of, 6
Dark Ages, the, 66, 196

Dasaratha, 6

De Anda, Simon, 146

Delhi, 16, 27

De Lua, 141

Dewey, Admiral, 115, 189, 190,

197

Diaz, Dictator, 112
Dominicans, the, 156
Don Juan de Austria, the, 199
Dookoht, 78
Dragon throne, 66
Drake, Admiral, 195
Dreams, 76
Durbars, 29

East India Company, 181
Edgeware Road, 86
Edison, 42
Egypt, 21, 34
Elephants, 53, 54, 55, 56
Elephants, white, 71
Elizabeth of France, 195
Elphinstone Hotel, 37
Empress Dowager, 69
England, 34, 40, 49, 66, 69, 187,

196

English Club, 186
English Hotel, the, 121
Englishmen, 89
English, the, 48, 69
Escolta, the, 121, 127, 128, 168.

172

Escorial, the, 195
Eurasian, 17

Farther India, 46
Fatherland, the, 196
Filipinos, 206
Fire Island, 167

F , Colonel, 173

Fire tree, 175

Index

209

Florida, 204

" Forsaken of God," the, 36
Fraile, 198
Franciscan, 197
Franciscans, 156
Friars, the, 153, 154, 155, *56,
157, 158, 180

Gaddanes, the, 175

Gaelic, the, 205

Ganges, 36

Garrote, the, 149, 150

Gautama Buddha, 97, 106

" Gawnagohng," 97

Germans, the, no, in

Gethsemane, Garden of, 108

Golden lilies, tank of the, 25, 26,

27

Golden Monastery, 74
Golgotha, 130
Gopuras, 26, 34
Gordon, General, 42, 109
Graphic, The, 18
Great Britain, 70, 113, 114

Hall of Audience, 30, 32, 66, 67,

69

Halsted, Murat, 123
Hanuman, 4, 6, 7
Havana, in
Hawaiians, the, 206
Hayti, 179
Heller, 10
Hermann, 10
Himalayas, the, 46
Hindoo, i, 3, 4. 5, 6. 13, 17, 23,

27, 33, 34, 38
Holland, 180
Hong Kong, 198, 199
Hunt, Mr. Leigh, 199

Iloilo, 126

Incas, the, 194
Incomparable pagoda, 74
India, 23, 39, 40
Indian Ocean, I
Inquisition, the, 195
Irrawaddy, the, 46, 51, 60, 62,

83, 89, 93

Isabella, Queen, 131
Is la de Cuba, the, 199
Isla de Luzon, the, 199
Italy, 29, 53

Jafna, 9

Janizaries, 60

Japan, 23, 87, 199, 202, 203,

204, 205
Japanese, 205
Java, 23, 25, 85, 180, 181
Jesuits, 142
Jewels, 5
Jymkhana Club, 48

Kadawing, 84
Kaladit, 78
Kandy, Gulf of, i
Karthay, 50, 51, 60
Karttikeya, 34
Kathapa, 97
Katipunan, the, 170
" Kauk-Kathan," 97
Khan, the Great, 93, 94, 95
Khartoum, 109
Kossuth, 179
Kremlin, the, 64
Krupp guns, 118, 147
" Kyaik-htee-yoh," 92

Lanka, King of, 6
Leogryphs, 96, 103, 107
Lily throne, the, 68
Lingam, 7

2IO

Index

Lloyd's, 205

London News, The, 91

Low Countries, 195

Luneta, the, 146, 147

Luzon Island, 170, 175, 185, 206

Madras, 36, 38, 39, 40
Madras Government, 2, 14
Madras Presidency, 15
Madura, 23, 24, 26, 27
Magellan, 136
Magicians, Indian, 10
Mahdi, the, 109
Maia, Queen, 92
Maine, the, in, 112

Major H , 42, 44, 63

Malabar Hill, 19, 21

Malate, 123, 124, 131, 146, 147,

165

Manar, Gulf of, I
Mandalay, 50, 60, 62, 63, 64, 65,

66, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 83, 90,

91, 98

Mandalay Hill, 70
Mangammal, Queen, 26
Mango-tree trick, 10
Manila, 70, 109, 112, 116, 117,

n8, 120, 130, 133, 134, 136,

137, 182, 183, 185, 186, 197
Manila Bay, 189, 194
Maoris, 176
Marco Polo, 93
Marivelas, 198
Mason, 114
Mecca, 2, 23
Mexico, 112, 185, 197
Mexico, City of, 124, 194
Mien, 93
Mindanao, 175

Mindohn Min, King, 62, 63, 103
Mingun Pagoda, 62

Mitchell, Lieutenant, 166
Moguls, 63

Mohammedans, 23, 81
Monadnock, the, 146, 168, 191
Monja, 198
Monsoon, i, 36
Montauk Point, 167
Monterey, the, 168, 191
Moors, the, 195
Moslem, 27
Moulmein, 54, 92
Museum, Mexico, 198

Nagapatam, 2
Napoleon, 190
"Nat-dewah's," 93
Nautch girls, 42
Negritos, the, 174, 175, 176
Negroes, American, 204
Neh'ban, 79, 81
New Zealand, 117
Nile, Valley of the, 51
Nirvana, 96, 97
Northern India, 51

Observatory, the, 150, 151
Ocean, Indian, 13, 36
Olympia, the, 127, 191, 193, 196,

197

Omdurman, 42
Opium pipe, 206
Oriental, 6
Oriental Hotel, 10
Oriente Hotel, 119
Otis, General, 126, 129, 136
Outacamund, 15

Paco campo santo, 162, 163
Pagahn, 91, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98
Pagoda, 51, 60, 92
Pampas-grass, 51

Index

211

Parsis, 18, 19, 21, 23

Paumben, 2

Payah, 101

Pegu, 69, 101

Phallus, 7

Philip II., 195

Philippines, 44, 117, 141, 185,

187, 188, 195, 206
Pizarro, 194
Plague, bubonic, 18
Plague, the, 14
Poinciana regia, 37
Pondicherry, 36
Pontefract Castle, 26
Poonah, 17
Porto Rico, 195
Port Philip, 190
Prome, 60, 95
Protestant, 206

Quarantine, 38
Queen Dowager, 69
Queen's court, 32
Queen, the, 69, 114

Rajah, 24, 30

Raleigh, the, 115

Rama, 6, 7

Rameswaram, I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8,

27
Rangoon, 42, 46, 47, 48, 49, 52,

54, 71, 84, 89, 92, 101, 102, 106
Ravana, 6, 7
Recollects, the, 156
Rest-house, 2
Rio Grande, the, 185
Romanists, 9
Rotten Row, 71
Rupees, lacs of, 5
Russia, 202, 203

St. Andrew's, 139

St. Augustines, 146

St. Lawrence, 51

St. Peter's Cathedral, 4

Sam Paloc, 130

Sanctuaries, 5

Santa Clara, Convent of, 137,

157. !58, 159, 160, 161, 197
Santa Lucia, Paseo of, 146
Santiago, 194
Santiago, Fort, 140
Santo Domingo Convent, 145, 197
Santo Domingo Island, 179
Sarkie's Hotel, 47, 48
Sarong, the, 85
Scala Santa, the, 103
Shanghai, 198, 199, 200, 201
Shan Hills, 62

Shiva, 4, 7, 8, 23, 25, 26, 27, 34
Shway Dagohn Pagoda, 92, 101
Sirdar, the, 109
Sita, 6
Slidell, 114
Solano, General, 155
Soudan, the, 109
Southern India, I, 6, 7, 14, 33,

34, 36, 37, 5i
Spain, 194, 195, 196
Spaniards, 126, 172, 196, 199
Spanish Bridge, 128, 147, 151
Stevens, Chaplain, 161, 162, 163
Sumatra, 181

Tagalos, 128, 130, 172, 177, 178,

186, 187, 206
Taj, the, 27
Tanjore, 14, 33, 34, 35
Tanjore, Rajah of, 30
Tartar, 95

Tasman Sea, the, 117
Tattooing, 87, 88
Teak-wood, 53

212

Index

" Teocalli," the, 194

Theebaw, King, 62, 64, 67, 68,

69

Thibetans, 60

Times, The, 17, 18, 171, 172
Titania, Queen, 148
Tokio, 205
Torquemada, 195
Torralba, 141
Towers of Silence, 180
Transcaspia, 47
Trichinopoly, 14
Turkestan, 21, 23
Tuticorin, 22

Upper Burman Club, 63, 68

Venice, Doge of, 71
Vigilant, the, 191
Virginius, the, in

Visaya tribes, 197

Vishnu, 6

Von Diederichs, Admiral, in,

"5
Vultures, 19, 21

Washington, Mt., 191
Weir, Dr., 17
West Indies, the, 185
Whittier, 190
Wilkinson, Mr., 2
Wilson, Mr., 118
Wood-carving, 83

Yoe, Shway, 64, 68, 89, 102
Yokohama, 203, 205
Yorktown, 113
Younghusband, Major, 155

Zafiro, the, 190, 196

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Two Women in the Klondike

The Story of a Journey to the Gold-Fields of Alaska. By
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The volume presents the record of a journey undertaken in the summer
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mining districts, especially when, coupled with this, there is opportunity of
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G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS. NEW YORK AND LONDON

BOOKS OF TRAVEL

The Yang=tse Valley and Beyond

An Account of Journeys in Central and Western China,
especially in the Province of Tze-Chuan, and among
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A Prisoner of the Khaleefa

Twelve Years' Captivity at Omdurman. By CHARLES
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This very important book gives Mr. Neufeld's own account of
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Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires

Southern India, Burma, and Manila. By MICHAEL
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Southern Seas," etc. Fully illustrated. 8°, gilt top.

In this new volume the author takes his readers on a flying trip
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G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, NEW YORK AND LONDON

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